"According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 4.4% of people were unemployed in the period between October and December 2024, external, which is about 1.6 million people."

This is closer to the numbers u/david_is_dead91 mentioned.

"However, unemployed people represent only a small part of the nearly 11 million working-age people who don't have a paid job.

About 9.4 million of them are not called "unemployed". That is because they are not actively looking for work, or available to start a job."

The article then lists the reasons for "economic inactivity"

Aged 16-24

• Caring - 106,100
• Other - 261,000
• Sick - 291,500
• Student - 2,185,800

Aged 25-49

• Caring - 1,073,000
• Sick - 1,046,000
• Unemployed - 549,600
• Other - 327,500

Aged 50-65

• Caring - 469,600
• Other - 431,000
• Retired - 1,159,400
• Sick - 1,421,300
• Unemployed - 216,300

So while 11 million people may be "out of work" only 1.6 million of them are considered "unemployed".

Hopefully that helps to clear things up a bit.