Jobs figures: Welsh employment rate hits record high

The proportion of adults employed in Wales is as high as the UK as a whole for the first time since records began.

The latest figures show that 75.8% of 16-65 year olds in Wales were employed between September and November last year.

This is the first time since March-May 1992 that the employment rate in Wales has not been lower than the UK average.

The figures show a record of more than 1.5 million people in Wales are in work.

Unemployment in Wales is 3.9%, lower than the UK average of 4%.

The Welsh employment rate for 16-64 year olds grew 3.1% on the previous year - compared with 0.4% for the UK as a whole.

The figures mean the employment rate in Wales is now higher than every other part of the UK apart from the south east, the east, and the south west of England.

For decades, Wales has had a larger proportion of people in the UK who are neither working nor available for work because of ill health, caring responsibilities or because they are in full-time education.

The latest figures show that this category - known as the "economically inactive" - has fallen significantly and is now the same rate as the UK average at 21%, having decreased 2.6 percentage points over the previous year.

Hard work

Economy Minister Ken Skates said: "These figures are again testament to a great deal of hard work by the Welsh Government to support job creation and economic growth during what are challenging and unprecedented times.

"With Brexit looming closer than ever, we continue to call on the UK government to take no-deal off the table and work to secure a Brexit that protects Welsh jobs and our economy."

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said: "Our ambition is to see every part of the UK thriving, and it is encouraging to see the Welsh employment rate matching that of the UK for the first time since records began.

"These figures demonstrate an upward trend of ambition in the Welsh economy which I hope continues over the months and years ahead."

Analysis by BBC Wales economics correspondent Sarah Dickins

These figures are historic. Since the Office for National Statistics started publishing this data in 1992, Wales has always had relatively low rates of employment and has never been at this level.

Unemployment has dipped below the UK average, but it is particularly significant that the proportion of people in work in Wales is now the same as the UK as a whole.

Furthermore, the proportion of people classed as "economically inactive", which has historically held back the Welsh economy, has fallen to 21%, mirroring the UK rate.

It is important not to read too much into one month's set of data in isolation and trying to determine reasons for short-term changes is difficult.

Welfare reform may well have influenced these figures but Wales' improved performance compared with other parts of the UK does suggest there have been wider significant changes.

But the challenge for Wales is wages, which are the second lowest of all 12 nations and regions of the UK.