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Labour Market Profile
Cheshire

The profile brings together data from several sources. Details about these and related terminology are given in the definitions section.

All figures are the most recent available.

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  Resident population
  In employment / unemployed
  Economically inactive
  Employment by occupation
  Qualifications
  Earnings by residence
  Working-age benefits
  Jobs (total jobs / employee jobs)
  VAT registered businesses


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RESIDENT POPULATION

Total population (2007)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
North West
(numbers)
Great Britain
(numbers)
All people 688,700 6,864,300 59,216,200
Males 337,100 3,366,300 29,054,100
Females 351,700 3,497,900 30,162,100
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates

Working age population (2007)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people - working age 417,100 60.6 61.8 62.2
Males - working age 218,500 64.8 65.8 66.2
Females - working age 198,600 56.5 57.9 58.3
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates

Note: % is a proportion of total population

LABOUR SUPPLY

Economically active (Jul 2007-Jun 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically active 350,600 80.0 76.7 78.8
In employment 338,800 77.2 72.1 74.5
Employees 291,400 67.4 63.8 64.7
Self employed 45,800 9.5 7.8 9.4
Unemployed§ 11,800 3.4 5.8 5.2
Males
Economically active 190,200 84.1 80.6 83.2
In employment 182,600 80.6 75.4 78.7
Employees 150,000 67.6 63.6 65.0
Self employed 32,200 13.0 11.3 13.3
Unemployed§ 7,700 4.0 6.4 5.4
Females
Economically active 160,400 75.6 72.5 73.9
In employment 156,200 73.5 68.5 70.1
Employees 141,400 67.2 64.0 64.5
Self employed 13,500 5.7 4.1 5.2
Unemployed§ 4,100 2.6 5.2 5.0
Source: ONS annual population survey

numbers are for those aged 16 and over, % are for those of working age (16-59/64)
§numbers and % are for those aged 16 and over. % is a proportion of economically active

Economically inactive (Jul 2007-Jun 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically inactive 83,100 20.0 23.3 21.2
Wanting a job 18,500 4.4 5.7 5.5
Not wanting a job 64,600 15.5 17.6 15.8
Males
Economically inactive 34,800 15.9 19.4 16.8
Wanting a job 6,600 3.0 5.2 4.6
Not wanting a job 28,200 12.9 14.2 12.2
Females
Economically inactive 48,300 24.4 27.5 26.1
Wanting a job 11,900 6.0 6.3 6.5
Not wanting a job 36,400 18.4 21.3 19.7
Source: ONS annual population survey

Notes: Numbers and % are for those of working age
% is a proportion of total working age population

Employment by occupation (Jul 2007-Jun 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Soc 2000 major group 1-3 152,000 44.9 40.0 42.9
1 Managers and senior officials 57,000 16.8 14.2 15.4
2 Professional occupations 51,700 15.2 11.8 12.9
3 Associate professional & technical 43,300 12.8 14.0 14.6
Soc 2000 major group 4-5 67,400 19.9 22.8 22.4
4 Administrative & secretarial 37,300 11.0 12.4 11.6
5 Skilled trades occupations 30,100 8.9 10.4 10.8
Soc 2000 major group 6-7 54,300 16.0 16.5 15.7
6 Personal service occupations 25,700 7.6 8.3 8.1
7 Sales and customer service occs 28,600 8.4 8.3 7.6
Soc 2000 major group 8-9 64,500 19.0 20.3 18.7
8 Process plant & machine operatives 25,500 7.5 8.4 7.2
9 Elementary occupations 38,900 11.5 11.9 11.5
Source: ONS annual population survey

Notes: Numbers and % are for those of 16+
% is a proportion of all persons in employment

Qualifications (Jan 2007-Dec 2007)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
NVQ4 and above 139,800 33.6 25.4 28.6
NVQ3 and above 207,200 49.9 44.0 46.4
NVQ2 and above 287,600 69.2 64.0 64.5
NVQ1 and above 344,300 82.8 78.3 78.1
Other qualifications 30,900 7.4 6.7 8.8
No qualifications 40,400 9.7 15.0 13.1
Source: ONS annual population survey

Notes: For an explanation of the qualification levels see the definitions section.
Numbers and % are for those of working age
% is a proportion of total working age population

Earnings by residence (2008)

  Cheshire
(pounds)
North West
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 504.6 451.3 479.3
Male full-time workers 571.4 494.1 525.0
Female full-time workers 404.8 389.1 412.7
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 12.66 11.40 12.01
Male full-time workers 14.30 12.00 12.72
Female full-time workers 10.73 10.41 10.96
Source: ONS annual survey of hours and earnings - resident analysis

Note: Median earnings in pounds for employees living in the area.

WORKING-AGE BENEFITS

The Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is payable to people under pensionable age who are available for, and actively seeking, work of at least 40 hours a week.

Total JSA claimants (November 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people 8,979 2.2 3.2 2.8
Males 6,645 3.0 4.7 3.9
Females 2,334 1.2 1.6 1.5
Source: ONS claimant count with rates and proportions

Note: % is a proportion of resident working age people

JSA claimants by age and duration (November 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
By age of claimant
Aged 18-24 2,670 29.8 32.9 30.5
Aged 25-49 4,800 53.6 53.2 53.6
Aged 50 and over 1,450 16.2 13.4 15.3
By duration of claim
Up to 6 months 7,405 82.7 76.3 76.6
Over 6 up to 12 months 935 10.4 13.9 13.9
Over 12 months 615 6.9 9.8 9.5
Source: ONS claimant count - age and duration

Note: % is a proportion of all JSA claimants

Working-age client group - key benefit claimants (May 2008)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total claimants 46,250 11.1 17.3 13.9
Job seekers 6,310 1.5 2.6 2.1
Incapacity benefits 24,160 5.8 9.3 7.0
Lone parents 5,410 1.3 2.2 2.0
Carers 3,950 0.9 1.3 1.1
Others on income related benefits 1,240 0.3 0.5 0.5
Disabled 3,950 0.9 1.1 1.0
Bereaved 1,230 0.3 0.3 0.3
Source: DWP benefit claimants - working age client group

Note: % is a proportion of resident working age people

LABOUR DEMAND

Jobs density (2006)

  Cheshire
(jobs)
Cheshire
(density)
North West
(density)
Great Britain
(density)
Jobs density 367,000 0.88 0.85 0.88
Source: ONS jobs density

Notes: The density figures represent the ratio of total jobs to working-age population.
Total jobs includes employees, self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces

Employee jobs (2007)

  Cheshire
(employee jobs)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total employee jobs 314,500 - - -
Full-time 216,500 68.8 69.2 69.0
Part-time 98,100 31.2 30.8 31.0
Employee jobs by industry
Manufacturing 44,000 14.0 12.4 10.6
Construction 14,700 4.7 5.1 4.9
Services 253,300 80.5 81.6 83.0
Distribution, hotels & restaurants 80,300 25.5 23.7 23.3
Transport & communications 14,800 4.7 5.6 5.9
Finance, IT, other business activities 70,500 22.4 19.4 21.6
Public admin, education & health 72,800 23.2 28.2 26.9
Other services 14,800 4.7 4.6 5.2
Tourism-related 30,100 9.6 8.4 8.2
Source: ONS annual business inquiry employee analysis

-Data unavailable
Tourism consists of industries that are also part of the services industry (see the definitions section)
Notes: % is a proportion of total employee jobs
Employee jobs excludes self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces

Earnings by workplace (2008)

  Cheshire
(pounds)
North West
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 460.7 450.2 479.1
Male full-time workers 509.2 489.9 523.5
Female full-time workers 376.6 392.1 412.4
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 11.67 11.36 12.00
Male full-time workers 12.44 11.96 12.69
Female full-time workers 9.96 10.46 10.95
Source: ONS annual survey of hours and earnings - workplace analysis

Note: Median earnings in pounds for employees working in the area.

BUSINESSES

VAT registered businesses (2007)

  Cheshire
(numbers)
Cheshire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Registrations 2,700 10.3 10.6 10.2
Deregistrations 1,775 6.8 7.5 7.3
Stock (at end of year) 26,260 - - -
Source: BERR - vat registrations/deregistrations by industry

Note: % is a proportion of stock (at end of year)

Definitions and Explanations

RESIDENT POPULATION

The estimated population of an area includes all those usually resident in the area, whatever their nationality. HM Forces stationed outside the United Kingdom are excluded but foreign forces stationed here are included. Students are taken to be resident at their term-time address.

Working age includes males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59.

LABOUR SUPPLY

Labour supply consists of people who are employed, as well as those people defined as unemployed or economically inactive, who can be considered to be potential labour supply. Information in this section relates to the characteristics of people living in an area.

Most labour supply data comes from the Annual Population Survey (APS). The APS is the largest regular household survey in the United Kingdom. It includes data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), plus further sample boosts in England, Wales and Scotland. The survey includes data from a sample of around 256,000 people aged 16 and over.

As APS estimates are based on samples, they are subject to sampling variability. This means that if another sample for the same period were drawn, a different estimate might be produced. In general, the larger the number of people in a sample, the smaller the variation between estimates. Estimates for smaller areas such as local authorities are therefore less reliable than those for larger areas such as regions. When the sample size is too small to produce reliable estimates, the estimates are replaced with a #.

Working age: always refers to females aged 16 to 59 and males aged 16 to 64.


Economically Active

Economically active: People who are either in employment or unemployed.

Economic activity rate: People, who are economically active, expressed as a percentage of all people.

In employment: People who did some paid work in the reference week (whether as an employee or self employed); those who had a job that they were temporarily away from (eg, on holiday); those on government-supported training and employment programmes; and those doing unpaid family work.

Employment rate: The number of people in employment expressed as a percentage of all people.

Employees and self employed: The division between employees and self employed is based on survey respondents' own assessment of their employment status. The percentag