New Report Focuses on Local Labour Markets
Local area labour markets: statistical indicators September 2005
28 September 2005 - National Statistics (National) -
More than 90 local authority areas in Great Britain had an employment rate of 80 per cent or higher in 2004, while five areas had employment rates below 60 per cent, according to a report published today by the Office for National Statistics. (This excludes three areas with very small sample sizes).
A study of the more than 400 local authority areas also found that two areas had unemployment rates below 1 per cent, while five areas - all in London - had unemployment above 10 per cent.
The area with the highest employment rate (excluding the City of London, for which data might not be reliable owing to a small sample size) is South Northamptonshire (85.9 per cent), followed by Shetland Islands (85.8 per cent). The lowest employment rate was in Tower Hamlets (53.7 per cent).
There is a considerable variation within each region. For example, in the region with the highest average, the South East, employment varies between 85.0 per cent in Eastleigh, Hampshire, and 70.0 in Oxford.
The area with the highest unemployment rate in 2004 was Tower Hamlets (12.6 per cent), while the lowest rate was in North Dorset (0.7 per cent - but based on a small sample size). Again there were considerable variations within regions - in the region with the lowest average rate, the South West (3.4 per cent), unemployment varied between North Dorset's 0.7 per cent and 5.7 per cent in Kerrier, Cornwall. London had the highest average rate (7.1 per cent), but individual boroughs varied between Tower Hamlet's 12.6 per cent and Havering's 2.6 per cent (excluding the city of London).
The latest estimates of jobs density (2003) show there were 0.83 jobs per working-age resident in the UK. London had the highest jobs density (0.92), compared with 0.71 in the lowest region - the North East.
The local area with the highest jobs density was the City of London, with a jobs density of over 50, Westminster was next highest at 3.65 jobs per working-age resident, while the lowest was Chester-le-Street, County Durham, with 0.36 jobs per resident.
People who work in the City of London had the highest earnings, with median full-time gross pay of £772 a week as at April 2004. The lowest pay was for people who work in South Shropshire, at £256 a week. Three areas - all in London - had median pay of over £600, while three areas had median pay under £300.
The report also contains sections looking at economic inactivity, ethnicity and the labour market, claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (the claimant count), and earnings by place of residence. It brings together data from a number of different sources -the Annual Population Survey, the Annual Business Inquiry, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and administrative data on benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions - to give an overall picture of the labour market looking at both labour supply and demand in each area.
BACKGROUND NOTES
1. The report, Local area labour markets: Statistical indicators September 2005, is published on the National Statistics website at:
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Also available are spreadsheets giving data for key indicators such as employment, unemployment, economic inactivity, claimant count and jobs for both local authorities and parliamentary constituencies.
2. The profiles given in the report are derived from the Nomis(r) database, which is available at .
3. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available from the press office.
4. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference. Crown copyright 2005.
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