UK extends employment boom with 32.9m people at work

The number of people in work in Britain jumped again at the end of last year, underscoring how the labour market defied the broader economic slowdown in the run-up to December’s UK election.

The number of people in work jumped by 180,000 in the October-December period, to 32.93m. Full-time employment accounted for most of the growth, while self-employment also rose strongly, Britain’s Office for National Statistics showed.