Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37423 on Employment and with reference to the Answer to the Question from the Rt hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras at Prime Minister's Questions on 20 July 2022, Official Report, column 951, whether he plans to correct the record in respect of his statement that there are more people in paid employment than at any time in the history of this country; and if he will make a statement.

I am proud of this Government’s record in protecting jobs and supporting employment across the country. As I leave Office, latest labour market statistics speak to the resilience of the UK economy: I am happy to clarify that we have a record number of employees on payrolls, unemployment close to its lowest point since 1974, and youth unemployment at a record low.

This resilience is, in no small part, thanks to the extraordinary interventions we made during the pandemic to protect over 14.6 million jobs through furlough and our self-employment income support scheme. It is because of these interventions, and the delivery of the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, that we oversaw the fastest economic growth in the G7 last year.