Statistical bulletin: Regional Labour Market - September 2011

Key points

• Employment rate highest in the East (74.7 per cent), lowest in the North East (65.9 per cent)
• Unemployment rate highest in the North East (10.7 per cent) and lowest in the South East (5.8 per cent)
• Inactivity rate highest in the North East and Wales (26.0 per cent) and lowest in the East (20.1 per cent)
• Claimant Count rate highest in North East (7.1 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 May to July 2011.
Claimant Count for August 2011.
Workforce Jobs estimates for June 2011.

Also in this release

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

Overview of Regional Labour Market Statistics published on 14 September 2011

The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 for the three months to July 2011 showed few large movements for the regions of the UK, with most movements reflecting the normal sampling volatility of the survey estimates.

The only notable increase was for Scotland, which increased by 0.7 percentage points, however this increase was partially caused by a particularly low estimate three months ago. The underlying pattern shows a much gentler rate of increase. Likewise, the two largest decreases of 1.0 percentage points for Wales and 0.7 percentage points for the West Midlands are influenced by unusually high estimates three months ago. However, the decrease for the West Midlands is part of a longer term pattern which has shown a significant decrease in the employment rate since the same period last year.

Meanwhile, smaller decreases in London, the South East and South West are consistent with an ongoing pattern of slow decline in the employment rate in those regions.

Regional figures for the unemployment rate are quite volatile, which needs to be allowed for when considering the pattern of change over time. In particular, the 1.3 percentage point increase for the North East is partially due to recent volatility in the estimates, with the underlying pattern suggesting a much gentler rate of increase. However, it is notable that the estimated rate of 10.7 per cent for the North East is the highest unemployment rate for any region since 1997.

Meanwhile, despite the volatility of unemployment rates, it is also notable that Scotland is the only region which showed an estimated decrease of 0.2 percentage points in the unemployment rate.

The number of claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) shows increases for all regions of the UK between July and August 2011. All regions have shown an increase in the count for women and most regions have shown an increase in the count for men, with only the East of England and Northern Ireland being unchanged for men. Overall, these two regions had much lower percentage increases in the number of claimants than any of the other regions.

The claimant counts for the North East, London, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all higher than they were at their recession peaks. The rate of 7.1 per cent for the North East is the highest of any region since 1999.

Employment

The employment rate for people aged from 16 to 64 for the UK was 70.5 per cent for the period May to July 2011.

The region with the highest rate was the East of England, at 74.7 per cent, followed by the South East at 74.5 per cent and the South West at 73.0 per cent. The region with the lowest rate was the North East at 65.9 per cent, followed by the West Midlands at 67.5 and Wales at 67.7 per cent.

The region with the largest change in the employment rate on the previous period (February to April 2011) was Wales with a decrease of 1.0 percentage point, followed by Scotland with an increase of 0.7 percentage points and the West Midlands with a decrease of 0.7 percentage points. The UK rate decreased 0.2 percentage points.

Over the year the regions with the largest changes in the employment rate were the West Midlands and the North East both with decreases of 2.1 percentage points. The South West decreased by 1.2 percentage points and the East of England increased 1.1 percentage points.

Employment Rates, May to July 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics

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Unemployment

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

The region with the highest rate was the North East at 10.7 per cent followed by London at 9.6 per cent and Yorkshire and The Humber and the West Midlands both at 9.1 per cent. The region with the lowest rate was the South East at 5.8 per cent, followed by the East of England at 6.3 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 (February to April 2011) was the North East at 1.3 percentage points followed by Wales and London both at 0.6 percentage points. Scotland was the only region to show a decrease in the rate down 0.2 percentage points. The UK rate increased by 0.3 percentage points.

Over the year the regions with the largest changes in the unemployment rate were the North East with an increase of 1.5 percentage points and Scotland with a decrease of 1.2 percentage points.

Unemployment Rates, May to July 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics

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An interactive chart showing regional unemployment rates over time is available.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

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

The region with the highest rate in Great Britain was the North East at 7.1 per cent which was an increase of 0.1 percentage points on the previous month. The next highest rates were in the West Midlands at 6.3 per cent and Yorkshire and The Humber at 6.1 per cent.

The regions with the lowest rate were the South East and the South West both at 3.2 per cent and both unchanged on the previous month. The next lowest rates were seen in the East of England at 3.9 per cent and London at 4.8 per cent.

Claimant Count Rates, August 2011, Seasonally Adjusted

Source: Work and Pensions

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Local Authority 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 August 2011 the local authority with the lowest claimant count proportion in Great Britain was the Isles of Scilly at 0.2 per cent. This was followed by the City of London at 0.6 per cent and the Shetland Islands at 1.2 per cent. Ten local authorities had a rate of 1.3 per cent. It was highest in Kingston upon Hull at 7.9 per cent followed by Wolverhampton at 7.8 per cent and Birmingham at 7.6 per cent.

Percentage of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance by Local Authority

Source: Work and Pensions

An interactive map showing claimant count proportions by local authority over time is available at: http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc6/jsamap.html

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.

Index of Tables

LFS headline indicators (Employment, unemployment and inactivity); Employment and Workforce Jobs estimates; Claimant Count; and Economic Activity and Inactivity estimates for each region are available in the following Tables 1 to 11:
Tables 1 to 11 - North East (1.6 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - North West (1.35 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - Yorkshire and The Humber (1.77 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - East Midlands (1.93 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - West Midlands (1.73 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - East of England (1.67 Mb Excel sheet) Tables 1 to 11 - London (1.36 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - South East (1.34 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - South West (1.34 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - Wales (1.54 Mb Excel sheet)
Tables 1 to 11 - Scotland (1.74 Mb Excel sheet)

The following tables contain local labour market indicators for all regions:
Table 12 – Local labour market indicators by Unitary and Local Authority (253.5 Kb Excel sheet)
Table 13 – Local labour market indicators by Parliamentary Constituenc (310 Kb Excel sheet) y
Table 13(2) - Local labour market indicators by Constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (111 Kb Excel sheet)
Table 14 – Local labour market indicators by Travel-to-Work Area (172 Kb Excel sheet)
Table 15 – Local labour market indicators by NUTS3 area (139 Kb Excel sheet)

The following tables contain local claimant count data for all regions:
Table 16 – Claimant Count by Unitary and Local Authority (267 Kb Excel sheet)
Table 17 – Claimant Count by Parliamentary Constituency (613.5 Kb Excel sheet)
Table 17(2) – Claimant Count by Constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (117.5 Kb Excel sheet)

Regional Summary of Labour Market headline indicators (68 Kb Excel sheet)
Regional Sampling Variability and Revisions of Labour Market indicators (35 Kb Excel sheet)

Background notes

1. This month's bulletin

   
   There are no significant changes in this month’s release.

    

2. Next month's bulletin

   Local labour marker indicators
   ONS intends updating tables 12 to 15, the local labour market indicators tables, in next month’s bulletin with employment and economic inactivity data from the April to March 2011 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 April 2010 to March 2011.

    

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 (35 Kb Excel sheet) available with this bulletin and show the size of revisions over the last five years. 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 (35 Kb Excel sheet) , 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.

    

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