View or download official labour market statistics from sources including the Labour Force Survey, Claimant Count, New Earnings Survey, Jobcentre Vacancies and Annual Business Inquiry.
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.
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.
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 #.
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 aged 16-64.
Employees and self employed: The division between employees and self employed is based on survey respondents' own assessment of their employment status. The percentage show the number in each category as a percentage of all people aged 16-64. The sum of employees and self employed will not equal the in employment figure due to the inclusion of those on government-supported training and employment programmes, and those doing unpaid family work in the latter.
Unemployed: Refers to people without a job who were available to start work in the two weeks following their interview and who had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained.
Model-based unemployed: As unemployed form a small percentage of the population, the APS unemployed estimates within local authorities are based on very small samples so for many areas would be unreliable. To overcome this ONS has developed a statistical model that provides better estimates of total unemployed for unitary authorities and local authority districts (unemployment estimates for counties are direct survey estimates). Model-based estimates are not produced for male or female unemployed.
The model-based estimate improves on the APS estimate by borrowing strength from the claimant count to produce an estimate that is more precise (i.e. has a smaller confidence interval). The claimant count is not itself a measure of unemployment but is strongly correlated with unemployment, and, as it is an administrative count, is known without sampling error. The gain in precision is greatest for areas with smaller sample sizes.
Unemployment rate: Unemployed as a percentage of the economically active population.
Economically Inactive
Economically inactive: People who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, all those who were looking after a home or retired.
Wanting a job: People not in employment who want a job but are not classed as unemployed because they have either not sought work in the last four weeks or are not available to start work.
Not wanting a job: People who are neither in employment nor unemployed and who do not want a job.
Occupation
Occupations are classified according to the Standard Occupation Classification 2000. Descriptions of the job titles included in each code are available in the SOC manuals which can be downloaded from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/classifications/archived-standard-classifications/standard-occupational-classification-2000/dissemination-media-and-availability/index.html
Qualifications
Qualifications data are only be available from the APS for calendar year periods, for example, Jan to Dec 2005. The variables show the total number of people who are qualified at a particular level and above, so data in this table are not additive. Separate figures for each NVQ level are available in the full Annual Population Survey data set (wizard/advanced query).
The trade apprenticeships are split 50/50 between NVQ level 2 and 3. This follows ONS policy for presenting qualifications data in publications. Separate counts for trade apprenticeships can be obtained from the full APS data set (wizard/advanced query).
No qualifications: No formal qualifications held
Other qualifications: includes foreign qualifications and some professional qualifications
NVQ 1 equivalent: e.g. fewer than 5 GCSEs at grades A-C, foundation GNVQ, NVQ 1, intermediate 1 national qualification (Scotland) or equivalent
NVQ 2 equivalent: e.g. 5 or more GCSEs at grades A-C, intermediate GNVQ, NVQ 2, intermediate 2 national qualification (Scotland) or equivalent
NVQ 3 equivalent: e.g. 2 or more A levels, advanced GNVQ, NVQ 3, 2 or more higher or advanced higher national qualifications (Scotland) or equivalent
NVQ 4 equivalent and above: e.g. HND, Degree and Higher Degree level qualifications or equivalent
Earnings by Residence
The figures show the median earnings in pounds for employees living in the area who are on adults rates of pay and whose pay was not affected by absence. Figures for earnings come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The ASHE is based on a 1 per cent sample of employees, information on whose earnings and hours is obtained from employers. The survey does not cover self-employed. Information relates to a pay period in April.
The earnings information collected relates to gross pay before tax, national insurance or other deductions, and excludes payments in kind. It is restricted to earnings relating to the survey pay period and so excludes payments of arrears from another period made during the survey period; any payments due as a result of a pay settlement but not yet paid at the time of the survey will also be excluded.
JSA Claimant Count
JSA claimant count records the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and National Insurance credits at Jobcentre Plus local offices. People claiming JSA must declare that they are out of work, capable of, available for and actively seeking work during the week in which the claim is made.
The percentage figures express the number of claimants resident in an area as a percentage of the population aged 16-64 resident in that area.
The count of total JSA claimants is mostly derived from the Jobcentre Plus computer records. For various reasons, e.g. a claimant's National Insurance number is not known, a few claims have to be dealt with manually. These clerical claims, which amount to less than 1 per cent of the total, are counted separately and not analysed in as much detail as the computerised claims. The count of total JSA claimants includes clerical claims, but only the computerised claims are analysed by age and duration.
Introduction of Universal Credit
The Pathfinder for Universal Credit started on 29 April 2013 with the introduction of this new benefit in one Jobcentre Plus office (Ashton under Lyne). Three further offices will take claims from Summer 2013 and the roll out of Universal Credit across the rest of the UK will commence in October 2013. Universal Credit will replace a number of means-tested benefits including the means-tested element of Jobseeker?s Allowance (JSA). It will not replace contributory based JSA.
The Claimant Count measures the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed. Since October 1996 it has been a count of the number of people claiming JSA. Following a consultation in 2012 by ONS, it was agreed that, with the introduction of Universal Credit, the Claimant Count would include:
people claiming contribution-based JSA (which is not affected by the introduction of Universal Credit),
people claiming means-tested JSA during the transition period while this benefit is being gradually phased out, and
people claiming Universal Credit who are not earning and who are subject to a full set of labour market jobseeker requirements, that is required to be actively seeking work and available to start work.
The Claimant Count figures for May 2013 do not include claimants of Universal Credit. The absence of Universal Credit claimants is expected to have a very small effect on the Claimant Count for May 2013. This assessment reflects the small scale of the Pathfinder which initially only includes some of the new claims in Ashton under Lyne Jobcentre Plus office.
ONS is working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to include jobseeker Universal Credit claims in the Claimant Count statistics as soon as possible. Universal Credit information will be collated and quality assured by DWP statisticians to ensure that they meet the necessary quality standards before being passed to ONS for inclusion in the Claimant Count estimates.
Some of the areas partially affected by the geographic coverage of the Pathfinder exercise as at May 2013 are:
Region - E12000002 North West
Local Authority: County/Unitary - E11000001 Greater Manchester
Local Authority: Local/Unitary - E08000008 Tameside
Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 - E14000537 Ashton-under-Lyne, E14000661 Denton and Reddish, E14000967 Stalybridge & Hyde
DWP Working-Age Client Group
The number of working-age people who are claiming one or more key DWP benefits. The key benefits are: bereavement benefit, carer's allowance, disability living allowance, ESA and incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, income support, jobseeker's allowance, and widow's benefit. The age at which women reach State Pension age is gradually increasing from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and April 2020. Throughout this period, only women below State Pension age are counted as working age benefit claimants."
The total count is broken down by statistical groups. These categorise each person according to the main reason why they are claiming benefit. Each client is classified to a single group.
Benefits are arranged hierarchically and claimants are assigned to a group according to the top most benefit they receive. Thus a person who is a lone parent and receives Incapacity Benefit would be classified as incapacity benefits. Consequently, the group lone parent will not contain all lone parents as some will be included in the incapacity benefits group and Job seekers groups.
Key out-of-work benefits consists of the groups: job seekers, ESA and incapacity benefits, lone parents and others on income related benefits.
These groups have been chosen to best represent a count of all those benefit recipients who cannot be in full-time employment as part of their condition of entitlement. Those claiming solely Bereavement Benefits or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are not included as these are not out-of-work or income based benefits. DLA is paid to those needing help with personal care. These people can, and some will, be in full-time employment. If DLA claimants are also in receipt of JSA, IS, ESA or Incapacity Benefits in addition to DLA they will be counted under the relevant statistical group. In addition, we exclude those claiming solely carer's benefits or claiming carer's benefits alongside income support, as DWP does not pursue active labour market policies for this group. Carers benefits are paid to those with full time caring responsibilities. The group entitled to Carer's benefits alongside Income Support (IS) includes around 86,000 claimants and has been stable over time.
This Nomis series is different to that published in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Market Statistics Bulletin (table 25) and on the DWP website at http://83.244.183.180/100pc/wa/tabtool_wa.html (against the link entitled "One-Click" Key Out-of-Work Benefits). This Nomis series uses DWP Jobseeker's Allowance numbers, whilst the other two series use the ONS claimant count for Jobseeker's Allowance. Details of the difference between these series can be found at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/differences.pdf
Labour demand includes jobs and vacancies available within the area.
Jobs Density
The numbers of jobs per resident aged 16-64. For example, a job density of 1.0 would mean that there is one job for every resident aged 16-64.
The total number of jobs is a workplace-based measure and comprises employee jobs, self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces. The number of residents aged 16-64 figures used to calculate jobs densities are based on the relevant mid-year population estimates.
Employee Jobs
The number of jobs held by employees. Employee jobs excludes self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces, so this count will be smaller than the total jobs figure shown in the Jobs density table. The information comes from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) - an employer survey conducted in December of each year. The survey samples around 78,000 businesses. The ABI records a job at the location of an employee's workplace (rather than at the location of the business's main office).
Full-time and part-time: In the ABI, part-time employees are those working for 30 or fewer hours per week.
Tourism-related includes the following sectors: 551 Hotels 552 Camping sites etc 553 Restaurants 554 Bars 633 Activities of travel agencies etc 925 Library, archives, museums etc 926 Sporting activities 927 Other recreational activities
Earnings by Workplace
The figures show the median earnings in pounds for employees working in the area who are on adults rates of pay and whose pay was not affected by absence. Figures for earnings come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The ASHE is based on a 1 per cent sample of employees, information on whose earnings and hours is obtained from employers. The survey does not cover self-employed. In 2004 information related to the pay period which included 21 April.
Jobcentre plus vacancies
The figures in the tables are based on the number of live unfilled vacancies handled by Jobcentre Plus. These are vacancies actively available to jobseekers on the count date and are derived as a by-product of administrative systems. Users should be aware of the following points when using and interpreting the series:
Coverage relates just to vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and as such represent a market share of vacancies throughout the whole economy. This proportion varies over time, according to the occupation of the vacancy and industry of the employer, and by local area.
The time-series is susceptible to discontinuities arising from changes to vacancy taking and vacancy handling (e.g. 2006 changes to employer follow-up processes).
Local area data can throw up spurious figures. For example, Lincoln local authority includes all national vacancies notified by the Ministry of Defence since these are recorded against a single central postcode irrespective of actual location.
For further details see: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/406.aspx
VAT Registered Businesses
VAT registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. They are an indicator of the level of entrepreneurship and of the health of the business population. As such they are used widely in regional and local economic planning.
These figures do not, however, give the complete picture of start-up and closure activity in the economy. Some VAT exempt sectors and businesses operating below the threshold for VAT registration are not covered. At the start of 2005, the VAT threshold was an annual turnover of £58,000, and 1.8 million of the estimated 4.3 million enterprises in the UK were VAT-registered.
However, some businesses do voluntarily register for VAT even though their turnover is below the threshold. Data for 2005 shows that around a fifth of all registrations have turnover below the VAT threshold.
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Source: Office for National Statistics
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