UK jobless rate rises to highest since 2016

Representative image. Credit: iStock Photo

Britain's unemployment rate rose to 5.0%, its highest since 2016, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll on the economy, official figures showed on Tuesday.

Separate data, also released by the Office for National Statistics, showed that the number of employees on company payrolls in December was down 2.7% on a year earlier and 828,000 lower than at the start of the pandemic in February.