The proportion of households in the UK with at least one person of working age who is workless is at its lowest level since records began in 1996, according to the latest statistical bulletin published by the Office for National Statistics.    

Key points

• In the period April-June 2013, 17.1 per cent of all households with at least one person aged 16-64 were workless – down from 17.9 per cent in the same period the previous year. This was the lowest percentage since comparable records began in 1996.
• The total number of workless households was 3.5 million.
• The number of people aged 16-64 in workless households fell to 4.9 million, the first time it has been below 5 million since 2008.
• The number of children in workless households was 1.6 million, or 14 per cent of all children. Of these, 65 per cent were living in lone-parent households.
• There were 297,000 households where no-one has ever worked, down 43,000 on the year.
• The north-east region remains the area with the highest percentage of its households workless, at 23 per cent. The south-east region has the lowest, at 13 per cent.

Source: Working and Workless Households, 2013 – Statistical Bulletin, Office for National Statistics
Links: Statistical bulletin | Childrens Society press release | Civitas blog post | Daily Mail report | Inside Housing report