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Labour Market Profile
Tower Hamlets

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)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
London
(numbers)
Great Britain
(numbers)
All people 215,300 7,556,900 59,216,200
Males 109,900 3,737,700 29,054,100
Females 105,400 3,819,200 30,162,100
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates

Working age population (2007)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people - working age 151,900 70.6 66.9 62.2
Males - working age 79,800 72.6 70.0 66.2
Females - working age 72,100 68.4 64.0 58.3
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates

Note: % is a proportion of total population

LABOUR SUPPLY

Economically active (Apr 2007-Mar 2008)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically active 101,200 66.5 75.2 78.7
In employment 89,000 58.4 70.1 74.5
Employees 78,100 51.3 58.9 64.7
Self employed 10,600 6.9 10.7 9.4
Model-based unemployed§ 11,800 11.7 6.7 5.2
Males
Economically active 61,600 77.3 82.1 83.3
In employment 56,600 70.9 76.7 78.8
Employees 47,800 60.1 61.1 65.1
Self employed 8,600 10.6 15.1 13.3
Unemployed§ 5,000 8.2 6.6 5.4
Females
Economically active 39,500 54.6 67.7 73.7
In employment 32,400 44.5 63.0 69.9
Employees 30,200 41.5 56.6 64.3
Self employed # # 6.0 5.2
Unemployed§ 7,100 18.0 6.8 4.9
Source: ONS annual population survey

#Sample size too small for reliable estimate (see definitions)
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 (Apr 2007-Mar 2008)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people
Economically inactive 50,200 33.5 24.8 21.3
Wanting a job 8,100 5.4 6.9 5.4
Not wanting a job 42,100 28.1 17.9 15.9
Males
Economically inactive 17,900 22.7 17.9 16.7
Wanting a job 4,100 5.2 5.3 4.4
Not wanting a job 13,800 17.5 12.5 12.2
Females
Economically inactive 32,300 45.4 32.3 26.3
Wanting a job 4,000 5.6 8.6 6.5
Not wanting a job 28,300 39.9 23.7 19.8
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 (Apr 2007-Mar 2008)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Soc 2000 major group 1-3 46,000 51.7 53.0 43.0
1 Managers and senior officials 11,800 13.3 17.7 15.3
2 Professional occupations 13,600 15.3 16.7 13.1
3 Associate professional & technical 20,600 23.1 18.6 14.6
Soc 2000 major group 4-5 15,200 17.1 19.7 22.5
4 Administrative & secretarial 10,300 11.6 11.9 11.6
5 Skilled trades occupations 4,900 5.5 7.8 10.9
Soc 2000 major group 6-7 11,300 12.7 13.1 15.6
6 Personal service occupations 5,200 5.9 6.8 8.0
7 Sales and customer service occs 6,100 6.8 6.3 7.6
Soc 2000 major group 8-9 16,300 18.3 13.6 18.6
8 Process plant & machine operatives 3,900 4.4 4.5 7.2
9 Elementary occupations 12,400 13.9 9.1 11.4
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)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
NVQ4 and above 47,900 32.0 37.4 28.6
NVQ3 and above 64,500 43.1 50.7 46.4
NVQ2 and above 77,200 51.6 63.2 64.5
NVQ1 and above 95,900 64.1 72.7 78.1
Other qualifications 25,600 17.1 14.5 8.8
No qualifications 28,100 18.8 12.8 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 (2007)

  Tower Hamlets
(pounds)
London
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 594.2 553.3 459.0
Male full-time workers 632.8 596.0 500.7
Female full-time workers 550.3 506.0 394.8
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 15.66 14.43 11.50
Male full-time workers 16.18 15.08 12.17
Female full-time workers 15.32 13.75 10.48
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 (October 2008)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
All people 7,999 5.3 2.9 2.6
Males 5,816 7.3 3.8 3.6
Females 2,183 3.0 1.9 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 (October 2008)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
By age of claimant
Aged 18-24 2,320 29.0 26.8 31.1
Aged 25-49 4,605 57.7 57.9 53.2
Aged 50 and over 1,045 13.1 15.0 15.1
By duration of claim
Up to 6 months 4,860 60.9 70.8 75.0
Over 6 up to 12 months 1,330 16.6 16.2 14.8
Over 12 months 1,790 22.4 13.0 10.3
Source: ONS claimant count - age and duration

Note: % is a proportion of all JSA claimants

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

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total claimants 29,110 19.2 13.9 13.9
Job seekers 7,230 4.8 2.5 2.1
Incapacity benefits 11,490 7.6 6.0 7.0
Lone parents 5,480 3.6 3.0 2.0
Carers 2,070 1.4 0.8 1.1
Others on income related benefits 1,510 1.0 0.6 0.5
Disabled 990 0.7 0.7 1.0
Bereaved 330 0.2 0.2 0.3
Source: DWP benefit claimants - working age client group

Note: % is a proportion of resident working age people

LABOUR DEMAND

Jobs density (2006)

  Tower Hamlets
(jobs)
Tower Hamlets
(density)
London
(density)
Great Britain
(density)
Jobs density 209,000 1.41 1.02 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 (2006)

  Tower Hamlets
(employee jobs)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Total employee jobs 192,600 - - -
Full-time 160,000 83.1 73.4 68.9
Part-time 32,600 16.9 26.6 31.1
Employee jobs by industry
Manufacturing 11,600 6.0 4.8 10.9
Construction 4,500 2.3 2.9 4.8
Services 175,000 90.9 92.0 82.9
Distribution, hotels & restaurants 22,100 11.5 21.3 23.5
Transport & communications 8,000 4.2 7.4 5.9
Finance, IT, other business activities 103,700 53.9 33.5 21.2
Public admin, education & health 33,000 17.1 22.7 26.9
Other services 8,200 4.3 6.9 5.3
Tourism-related 9,200 4.8 8.4 8.3
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 (2007)

  Tower Hamlets
(pounds)
London
(pounds)
Great Britain
(pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 757.0 580.9 458.6
Male full-time workers 843.3 643.5 500.0
Female full-time workers 667.6 518.5 394.8
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 20.39 15.23 11.49
Male full-time workers 21.63 16.40 12.14
Female full-time workers 18.35 14.09 10.48
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 (2006)

  Tower Hamlets
(numbers)
Tower Hamlets
(%)
London
(%)
Great Britain
(%)
Registrations 1,180 13.7 11.3 9.4
Deregistrations 770 8.9 8.9 7.4
Stock (at end of year) 8,630 - - -
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 t