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Labour Market Profile
Lancashire

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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
North West
(numbers)
Great Britain
(numbers)
All people 1,168,100 6,864,300 59,216,200
Males 573,000 3,366,300 29,054,100
Females 595,000 3,497,900 30,162,100
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates

Working age population (2007)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people - working age 713,100 61.0 61.8 62.2
Males - working age 374,200 65.3 65.8 66.2
Females - working age 338,900 57.0 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically active 588,600 79.6 76.7 78.8
In employment 555,900 75.1 72.1 74.5
Employees 486,800 66.1 63.8 64.7
Self employed 64,600 8.5 7.8 9.4
Unemployed§ 32,700 5.6 5.8 5.2
Males
Economically active 318,600 83.6 80.6 83.2
In employment 302,100 79.2 75.4 78.7
Employees 251,400 66.4 63.6 65.0
Self employed 47,700 12.1 11.3 13.3
Unemployed§ 16,500 5.2 6.4 5.4
Females
Economically active 270,000 75.3 72.5 73.9
In employment 253,700 70.6 68.5 70.1
Employees 235,400 65.7 64.0 64.5
Self employed 16,900 4.5 4.1 5.2
Unemployed§ 16,200 6.0 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically inactive 144,900 20.4 23.3 21.2
Wanting a job 34,400 4.8 5.7 5.5
Not wanting a job 110,500 15.5 17.6 15.8
Males
Economically inactive 61,000 16.4 19.4 16.8
Wanting a job 17,900 4.8 5.2 4.6
Not wanting a job 43,100 11.6 14.2 12.2
Females
Economically inactive 83,800 24.7 27.5 26.1
Wanting a job 16,500 4.9 6.3 6.5
Not wanting a job 67,400 19.9 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Soc 2000 major group 1-3 227,000 40.8 40.0 42.9
1 Managers and senior officials 81,100 14.6 14.2 15.4
2 Professional occupations 64,800 11.7 11.8 12.9
3 Associate professional & technical 81,000 14.6 14.0 14.6
Soc 2000 major group 4-5 133,200 24.0 22.8 22.4
4 Administrative & secretarial 71,100 12.8 12.4 11.6
5 Skilled trades occupations 62,100 11.2 10.4 10.8
Soc 2000 major group 6-7 83,800 15.1 16.5 15.7
6 Personal service occupations 45,700 8.2 8.3 8.1
7 Sales and customer service occs 38,100 6.8 8.3 7.6
Soc 2000 major group 8-9 110,600 19.9 20.3 18.7
8 Process plant & machine operatives 46,900 8.4 8.4 7.2
9 Elementary occupations 63,700 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
NVQ4 and above 181,300 25.6 25.4 28.6
NVQ3 and above 333,300 47.0 44.0 46.4
NVQ2 and above 472,800 66.7 64.0 64.5
NVQ1 and above 575,000 81.1 78.3 78.1
Other qualifications 43,100 6.1 6.7 8.8
No qualifications 90,600 12.8 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)

  Lancashire
(pounds)
North West
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 451.2 451.3 479.3
Male full-time workers 485.6 494.1 525.0
Female full-time workers 388.1 389.1 412.7
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 11.40 11.40 12.01
Male full-time workers 12.07 12.00 12.72
Female full-time workers 10.47 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people 16,904 2.4 3.2 2.8
Males 12,911 3.5 4.7 3.9
Females 3,993 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
By age of claimant
Aged 18-24 5,650 33.5 32.9 30.5
Aged 25-49 8,650 51.3 53.2 53.6
Aged 50 and over 2,450 14.5 13.4 15.3
By duration of claim
Up to 6 months 13,985 82.9 76.3 76.6
Over 6 up to 12 months 1,890 11.2 13.9 13.9
Over 12 months 1,000 5.9 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total claimants 101,510 14.2 17.3 13.9
Job seekers 12,530 1.8 2.6 2.1
Incapacity benefits 57,520 8.1 9.3 7.0
Lone parents 10,990 1.5 2.2 2.0
Carers 7,920 1.1 1.3 1.1
Others on income related benefits 2,870 0.4 0.5 0.5
Disabled 7,550 1.1 1.1 1.0
Bereaved 2,130 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)

  Lancashire
(jobs)
Lancashire
(density)
North West
(density)
Great Britain
(density)
Jobs density 559,000 0.78 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)

  Lancashire
(employee jobs)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total employee jobs 496,000 - - -
Full-time 344,600 69.5 69.2 69.0
Part-time 151,400 30.5 30.8 31.0
Employee jobs by industry
Manufacturing 84,600 17.1 12.4 10.6
Construction 25,600 5.2 5.1 4.9
Services 381,800 77.0 81.6 83.0
Distribution, hotels & restaurants 118,400 23.9 23.7 23.3
Transport & communications 22,000 4.4 5.6 5.9
Finance, IT, other business activities 76,000 15.3 19.4 21.6
Public admin, education & health 144,800 29.2 28.2 26.9
Other services 20,600 4.2 4.6 5.2
Tourism-related 41,000 8.3 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)

  Lancashire
(pounds)
North West
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 442.9 450.2 479.1
Male full-time workers 479.1 489.9 523.5
Female full-time workers 373.8 392.1 412.4
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 11.14 11.36 12.00
Male full-time workers 11.69 11.96 12.69
Female full-time workers 9.86 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)

  Lancashire
(numbers)
Lancashire
(%)
North West
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Registrations 3,345 9.4 10.6 10.2
Deregistrations 2,605 7.3 7.5 7.3
Stock (at end of year) 35,745 - - -
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