Responding to the latest ONS labour market data, Nick Bowes, Chief Executive of Centre for London said:

“With the highest unemployment rate and the only region with fewer payrolled employees now than at the start of the pandemic, London’s recovery continues to lag behind the rest of the country.

“With so much of the levelling up agenda focused on areas outside of London, today’s data is a stark reminder that the city’s economy can’t be relied on to just bounce back under its own steam and that London has large levelling up challenges of its own.

“Government must not turn its back on the city. We need a much more joined-up approach that recognises the need to invest in skills, education, early years, housing and health.”