Statistical bulletin: Regional Labour Market, August 2011

Key points

• Employment rate highest in the East and South East (75.0 per cent), lowest in the North East (66.4 per cent).
• Unemployment rate highest in the North East (10.0 per cent) and lowest in the South East (5.8 per cent).
• Inactivity rate highest in the North East (26.1 per cent) and lowest in the East (19.7 per cent).
• Claimant Count rate highest in North East (7.0 per cent), lowest in South West and South East (3.2 per cent).

In this bulletin:

This bulletin shows the latest key labour market statistics for the regions and countries of Great Britain along with statistics for local authorities, travel-to-work areas and parliamentary constituencies.

Updated this month

Labour Force Survey estimates for the period April to June 2011.

Claimant Count for July 2011.

Annual Population Survey estimates for the period January 2010 to December 2010.

Also in this release

Workforce Jobs estimates for March 2011.

Regional labour market statistics published on 17 August 2011

The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 for the three months to June 2011 showed large increases in a number of regions while other regions showed smaller decreases. The estimates for North East and Northern Ireland had the largest increases in the employment rate, both increasing by 1.0 percentage points, with a smaller increase of 0.6 percentage points in Scotland.  The increase for Scotland appears to be a pattern of general increase in the employment rate.  It is not yet clear whether the increase in North East will be part of an ongoing increase. 

Although the employment rate for South West and North West has only shown a small decrease for the three months to June 2011, this continues an ongoing pattern of decreases for these regions.

Regional figures for the unemployment rate are quite volatile, which needs to be allowed for when considering the pattern of change over time.  Despite large decreases in unemployment rates for West Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber of 1.0 and 0.6 percentage points respectively, it is not yet clear whether these decreases are significant due to the volatility of these series.

The estimate for North West has shown an increase of 1.0 percentage point, when taken with other recent figures, this suggest a pattern of increase in the rate for this region.

The number of claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) shows increases for all regions of the UK between June and July 2011 for both men and women.

Employment

The employment rate for people aged from 16 to 64 for the UK was 70.7 per cent for the period April to June 2011.

The regions with the highest rates were the South East and East of England, both at 75.0 per cent followed by the South West at 73.0 per cent. The region with the lowest rate was the North East at 66.4 per cent, followed by the West Midlands at 68.0 and Yorkshire and The Humber at 68.1 per cent.

The region with the largest change in the employment rate on the previous period (January to March 2011) was the North East with an increase of 1.0 percentage point, followed by Yorkshire and The Humber with a decrease of 0.7 percentage points. The UK rate was unchanged.

Over the year the regions with the largest changes in the employment rate were Scotland with an increase of 1.6 percentage points, the East of England with an increase of 1.5 percentage points and Yorkshire and The Humber with a decrease of 1.5 percentage points.

Employment Rates, April to June 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics

Download chart

• XLS format
  (13.5 Kb)

Unemployment

The unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was 7.9 per cent for the period April to June 2011.

The region with the highest rate was the North East at 10.0 per cent followed by London at 9.5 per cent and the North West at 8.8 per cent. The region with the lowest rate was the South East at 5.8 per cent, followed by the East of England at 6.5 per cent and the South West at 6.6 per cent.

The region with the largest increase in the unemployment rate on the previous period (January to March 2011) was the North West at 1.0 percentage points followed by the Wales at 0.7 percentage points. The regions with the largest decrease on the previous period were the West Midlands at 1.0 percentage points followed by Yorkshire and The Humber at 0.6 percentage points. The UK rate increased by 0.1 percentage point.

Over the year the regions with the largest changes in the unemployment rate were the North West with an increase of 0.7 percentage points and Yorkshire and The Humber and Scotland both with a decrease of 0.7 percentage points.

Unemployment Rates, April to June 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics

Download chart

• XLS format
  (13.5 Kb)

Workforce Jobs

Workforce Jobs increased in 6 of the 11 regions of Great Britain between December 2010 and March 2011. There was no change in the West Midlands, with a decrease in the remaining 4 regions. The largest increase of 55,000 was seen in the South West, whilst the largest decrease of 37,000 was seen in London.

The East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector at 14.7 per cent whilst London had the lowest proportion at 3.0 per cent.  For the service sector the situation is reversed with London having the highest proportion at 92.0 per cent and the East Midlands the lowest at 76.5 per cent.

Workforce Jobs by broad industry group, March 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Office for National Statistics

Download chart

• XLS format
  (17.5 Kb)

Jobseeker’s Allowance

The seasonally adjusted claimant count rate for the UK was 4.9 per cent in July 2011 up 0.1 percentage point from June.

The region with the highest rate was the North East at 7.0 per cent which was an increase of 0.2 percentage points on the previous month. The next highest rates were in the West Midlands at 6.2 per cent and Yorkshire and The Humber at 6.0 per cent.

The regions with the lowest rate were the South East and the South West both at 3.2 per cent and both up 0.1 percentage points on the previous month. The next lowest rates were seen in the East of England at 3.9 per cent and London at 4.7 per cent.

Claimant Count Rates, July 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Work and Pensions

Download chart

• XLS format
  (13.5 Kb)

Local Authority Local Labour Market Indicators

For the period January 2010 to December 2010 the employment rate was highest in West Somerset at 87.0 per cent. The next highest was the Shetland Islands at 85.6 per cent and Test Valley in Hampshire at 82.4 per cent. The lowest rates were the City of London at 46.2 per cent, followed by Nottingham at 54.9 per cent and the London borough of Newham at 55.3 per cent.

For the period January 2010 to December 2010 the unemployment rate was highest in Middlesbrough at 14.3 per cent. The next highest was Nottingham at 13.9 per cent and Kingston upon Hull at 13.5 per cent. The lowest rates were in Ribble Valley in Lancashire at 3.3 per cent, followed by the Orkney Islands at 3.4 per cent and South Lakeland in Cumbria at 3.5 per cent.

In July 2011 the local authority with the lowest claimant count rate in Great Britain was the Isles of Scilly at 0.2 per cent. This was followed by the City of London at 0.5 per cent and East Dorset, West Dorset and Winchester in Hampshire, all at 1.2 per cent. It was highest in Kingston upon Hull at 8.0 per cent followed by Wolverhampton at 7.8 per cent and Middlesbrough at 7.5 per cent.

In 2009 the highest and lowest jobs densities in Great Britain were both in London. The highest was the City of London at 38.05 and the lowest was Lewisham at 0.40. Westminster (3.35), Camden (1.77) and Islington (1.42), all in London were the next highest jobs densities. The highest jobs densities outside London were Watford and Aberdeen City both at 1.27. After Lewisham, the lowest jobs density was East Renfrewshire in Scotland at 0.41, followed by East Dunbartonshire and Barking and Dagenham both at 0.42.

Background notes

1. This month's bulletin
   
   Local labour market indicators
   Tables 12 to 15, the total labour market indicators tables, have been updated in this month’s bulletin with employment and economic inactivity data from the January 2010 to December 2010 Annual Population Survey; unemployment from the APS (tables 13 to 15); model based estimates of unemployment for local authorities (table 12); and claimant count levels and proportions for January 2010 to December 2010.

   Claimant count proportions 
   On 30 June 2011 ONS published the 2010 mid-year population estimates for the UK. These population estimates have been used as new denominators for claimant count proportions for the UK, regions, counties, unitary and local authorities in table 16. 

2. Next month's bulletin
   
   There are no significant changes planned for next month’s release.
   
   

3. Quality issues
   
   One indication of the reliability of the key indicators in this bulletin can be obtained by monitoring the size of revisions. These summary measures are available in the Regional Labour Market Sampling Variability spreadsheet available with this bulletin and show the size of revisions over the last five years. The data shown for employment relate to the old working age employment rate which, since August 2010, has no longer been published in this bulletin. It is not currently possible to produce revisions analysis for those aged from 16 to 64 as this is a new series published for the first time in August 2010. ONS will publish such analysis once sufficient data allows.

   Please note that these indicators only report summary measures for revisions. The revised data itself may be subject to sampling or other sources of error. The ONS standard presentation is to show five years worth of revisions (i.e. 60 observations for a monthly series, 20 for a quarterly series).
   

4. Sampling variability
   
   Very few statistical revisions arise as a result of ‘errors’ in the popular sense of the word. All estimates, by definition, are subject to statistical ‘error’ but in this context the word refers to the uncertainty.

   Some data in the bulletin are based on statistical samples and, as such, are subject to sampling variability. If many samples were drawn, each would give different results. The ranges shown in the Regional Labour Market Sampling Variability spreadsheet, available with this bulletin, represent ‘95 per cent confidence intervals’. It is expected that in 95 percent of samples the range would contain the true value.
   

5. ©Crown Copyright 2011

   You may use or re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

6. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: media.relations@ons.gsi.gov.uk

   These National Statistics are produced to high professional standards and released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Statistical contacts