Table of contents
- Main points
- In this bulletin
- Summary of latest regional labour market statistics
- Understanding and working with labour market statistics
- Employment
- Workforce jobs (first published 14 December 2016)
- Actual hours worked (first published 18 January 2017)
- Unemployment
- Claimant Count (Experimental Statistics)
- Economic inactivity
- Local labour market indicators
- Where to find more information about labour market statistics
- Quality and methodology
- Background notes
1. Main points
For the 3 months ending December 2016, the highest employment rate in the UK was in the South East (78.6%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (70.0%). The employment rate estimates for those aged 16 to 64 for October to December 2016 compared with July to September 2016, showed few large increases or decreases for the regions and countries of the UK.
For the 3 months ending December 2016, the highest unemployment rate in the UK was in the North East (7.0%) and the lowest was in the South East (3.4%). The unemployment rate estimates for October to December 2016 compared with July to September 2016, are showing few large changes for the regions of the UK.
For January 2017, the highest Claimant Count rate in the UK was in the North East (3.9%) and the lowest was in the South East (1.2%). Compared with December 2016, all regions saw a decrease in the seasonally adjusted Claimant Count rate.
For the 3 months ending December 2016, the highest economic inactivity rate in the UK was in Northern Ireland (25.9%) and the lowest was in the South East (18.7%). The largest changes in the economic inactivity rate, compared with the same period last year, were in Scotland, which increased by 1.7 percentage points and the East Midlands, which decreased by 1.7 percentage points.
Between June 2016 and September 2016, the largest increase in workforce jobs in the UK was in the South West, at 41,000. The largest decrease was in Scotland at 27,000.
In September 2016, the region with the highest proportion of workforce jobs in the service sector was London at 92.5%, which had increased by 0.6 percentage points since June 2016. The East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector at 13.8%.
The highest average actual weekly hours worked, for the 12 months ending September 2016, was in London at 33.5 hours and lowest in the South West at 31.3 hours. For full-time workers, it was highest in London at 38.2 hours and for part-time workers it was highest in Northern Ireland at 17.1 hours.
Back to table of contents2. In this bulletin
This bulletin shows the latest main labour market statistics for the regions and countries of the UK, along with statistics for local authorities, travel-to-work areas and parliamentary constituencies.
Data for Northern Ireland, although included in this bulletin, are available separately, in full, in the Northern Ireland Labour Market Report on the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) website.
Updated this month
Labour Force Survey estimates for the period October to December 2016
Claimant Count for January 2017
Also in this release
Public and private sector employment for September 2016
Workforce jobs estimates for September 2016
Annual Population Survey estimates for the period October 2015 to September 2016
3. Summary of latest regional labour market statistics
Table 1 shows the latest estimates for employment, unemployment and economic inactivity for October to December 2016 and a comparison with the previous quarter (July to September 2016). Comparing non-overlapping periods (October to December 2016 with July to September 2016) provides a more robust short-term comparison. Table 2 shows the latest Claimant Count rate for January 2017 and shows how these figures compare with the previous month (December 2016) and the previous year (January 2016).
Table 1: Summary of latest headline estimates for regions of the UK, seasonally adjusted, October to December 2016
UK regions | ||||||
Employment rate1 (%) aged 16 to 64 | Change on Jul to Sep 2016 | Unemployment rate2 (%) aged 16 and over | Change on Jul to Sep 2016 | Inactivity rate3 (%) aged 16 to 64 | Change on Jul to Sep 2016 | |
United Kingdom | 74.6 | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 21.6 | -0.1 |
Great Britain | 74.7 | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 21.4 | -0.1 |
England | 74.9 | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 21.2 | -0.1 |
North East | 70.3 | -0.9 | 7.0 | 0.9 | 24.3 | 0.2 |
North West | 73.0 | 0.8 | 5.0 | -0.2 | 23.0 | -0.6 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 73.5 | 0.5 | 5.0 | -0.6 | 22.5 | -0.1 |
East Midlands | 75.7 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 0.2 | 20.5 | -0.7 |
West Midlands | 72.2 | -1.2 | 5.9 | 0.6 | 23.1 | 0.7 |
East | 76.7 | -0.4 | 4.4 | 0.2 | 19.6 | 0.3 |
London | 73.7 | 0.1 | 5.5 | -0.2 | 21.9 | 0.0 |
South East | 78.6 | 0.5 | 3.4 | -0.3 | 18.7 | -0.3 |
South West | 77.5 | 0.5 | 3.6 | -0.3 | 19.5 | -0.3 |
Wales | 72.7 | -0.4 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 23.8 | 0.4 |
Scotland | 73.6 | 0.1 | 4.9 | 0.2 | 22.4 | -0.2 |
Northern Ireland | 70.0 | 0.1 | 5.3 | -0.3 | 25.9 | 0.1 |
Source: Office for National Statistics | ||||||
Notes: | ||||||
1. Calculation of headline employment rate: Number of employed people aged from 16 to 64 divided by the population aged from 16 to 64. Population is the sum of employed plus unemployed plus inactive. | ||||||
2. Calculation of headline unemployment rate: Number of unemployed people aged 16 and over divided by the sum of employed people aged 16 and over plus unemployed people aged 16 and over. | ||||||
3. Calculation of headline economic inactivity rate: Number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 divided by the population aged from 16 to 64. Population is the sum of employed plus unemployed plus inactive. |