The number of UK workers on payrolls increased by 83,000 last month despite ongoing national lockdown restrictions. However, 726,000 jobs have been lost since February 2020 when the pandemic began, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said the vast majority of job losses affected the under-25s age group.
However, he said pay growth is running at its highest level since 2008, with 86,000 more people recruited last month, showing signs of a recovering market.
It reported average weekly earnings up by 4.7% on an annual basis during the three months to December. However, the official jobless rate ticked up to 5.1% in the three months to December from 5%.