Resident Population

Total population (2021)

	Luton (numbers)	East (numbers)	Great Britain (numbers)
All people	225,000	6,349,600	65,078,900
Males	112,700	3,113,600	31,833,600
Females	112,300	3,236,000	33,245,300
Source: ONS Population estimates - local authority based by five year age band

Population aged 16-64 (2021)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
All people aged 16-64	146,100	64.9	61.6	62.9
Males aged 16-64	73,700	65.4	62.1	63.3
Females aged 16-64	72,400	64.5	61.2	62.6
Source: ONS Population estimates - local authority based by five year age band Notes:   % is a proportion of total population

Labour Supply

Employment and unemployment (Apr 2023-Mar 2024)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
All people
Economically active†	108,500	72.9	80.1	78.6
In employment†	102,400	68.7	77.1	75.5
Employees†	87,700	59.0	67.6	66.1
Self employed†	14,400	9.5	9.3	9.2
Unemployed (model-based)§	5,300	4.9	3.7	3.9
Males
Economically active†	65,100	83.5	84.2	82.5
In employment†	62,900	80.6	80.9	79.1
Employees†	52,200	67.4	68.6	67.1
Self employed†	10,300	12.8	12.0	11.7
Unemployed§	#	#	3.8	4.1
Females
Economically active†	43,400	61.1	76.1	74.6
In employment†	39,500	55.4	73.3	71.9
Employees†	35,400	49.6	66.7	65.1
Self employed†	4,100	5.8	6.5	6.7
Unemployed§	3,900	9.0	3.6	3.6
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 aged 16-64 §   -   numbers and % are for those aged 16 and over. % is a proportion of economically active

Economic inactivity (Apr 2023-Mar 2024)

	Luton (level)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
All people
Total	38,800	27.1	19.9	21.4
Student	10,600	27.3	24.5	26.6
looking after family/home	10,900	28.2	17.5	19.1
temporary sick	!	!	1.1	1.9
long-term sick	11,200	28.9	26.3	27.3
discouraged	!	!	#	0.3
retired	3,100	8.0	17.5	13.5
other	#	#	12.3	11.3
wants a job	7,200	18.5	18.2	17.3
does not want a job	31,700	81.5	81.8	82.7
Source: ONS annual population survey #   Sample size too small for reliable estimate (see definitions) !   Estimate is not available since sample size is disclosive (see definitions) Notes:   numbers are for those aged 16-64.   % is a proportion of those economically inactive, except total, which is a proportion of those aged 16-64

Workless Households (Jan-Dec 2022)

	Luton	East	Great Britain
Number of Workless Households	9,000	218,700	2,858,400
Percentage of Households that are Workless	14.7	11.2	13.9
Number of children in Workless Households	#	97,400	1,270,500
Percentage of children who are in Households that are Workless	#	7.6	10.3
Source: ONS annual population survey - households by combined economic activity status #   Sample size too small for reliable estimate (see definitions) Notes:   Only includes those households that have at least one person aged 16 to 64.   Children refers to all children aged under 16.

Employment by occupation (Apr 2023-Mar 2024)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
Soc 2020 major group 1-3	42,200	41.6	53.9	52.8
1 Managers, directors and senior officials	6,900	6.7	12.4	10.8
2 Professional occupations	20,100	19.6	25.9	26.6
3 Associate professional occupations	15,200	14.9	15.4	15.3
Soc 2020 major group 4-5	20,700	20.5	19.4	18.3
4 Administrative & secretarial occupations	9,900	9.6	10.6	9.6
5 Skilled trades occupations	10,900	10.6	8.7	8.7
Soc 2020 major group 6-7	17,100	16.9	14.2	14.4
6 Caring, leisure and Other Service occupations	7,700	7.5	7.7	8.2
7 Sales and customer service occs	9,400	9.2	6.4	6.2
Soc 2020 major group 8-9	21,400	21.1	12.6	14.5
8 Process plant & machine operatives	10,600	10.3	5.0	5.4
9 Elementary occupations	10,800	10.5	7.5	9.0
Source: ONS annual population survey Notes:   Numbers and % are for those of 16+   % is a proportion of all persons in employment

Qualifications (Jan 2023-Dec 2023)

	Luton (level)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
RQF4 and above	59,000	41.9	42.8	47.3
RQF3 and above	79,600	56.5	64.7	67.8
RQF2 and above	107,200	76.1	88.0	86.5
RQF1 and above	110,100	78.2	90.9	89.0
Other qualifications	15,700	11.1	3.8	4.6
No qualifications	15,100	10.7	5.3	6.5
Source: ONS annual population survey Notes:   For an explanation of the qualification levels see the definitions section.   Numbers and % are for those of aged 16-64   % is a proportion of resident population of area aged 16-64

Earnings by place of residence (2023)

	Luton (pounds)	East (pounds)	Great Britain (pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers	618.1	705.7	682.6
Male full-time workers	647.5	755.6	728.3
Female full-time workers	562.7	635.3	628.8
Hourly pay - excluding overtime
Full-time workers	15.11	17.89	17.49
Male full-time workers	15.11	18.79	18.15
Female full-time workers	14.95	16.85	16.64
Source: ONS annual survey of hours and earnings - resident analysis Notes:   Median earnings in pounds for employees living in the area.

Out-Of-Work Benefits

Under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker's Allowance. As Universal Credit Full Service is rolled out in particular areas, the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise.

Claimant count by sex - not seasonally adjusted (August 2024)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
All people	11,030	7.6	3.5	4.3
Males	6,030	8.2	3.7	4.7
Females	5,000	6.9	3.3	3.9
Source: ONS Claimant count by sex and age Note:   % is the number of claimants as a proportion of resident population of area aged 16-64 and gender

Claimant count by age - not seasonally adjusted (August 2024)

	Luton (level)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
Aged 16+	11,030	7.6	3.5	4.3
Aged 16 to 17	10	0.2	0.1	0.2
Aged 18 to 24	1,515	7.2	4.6	5.3
Aged 18 to 21	770	6.8	4.9	5.5
Aged 25 to 49	7,005	8.5	4.0	5.0
Aged 50+	2,495	6.9	2.6	3.2
Source: ONS Claimant count by sex and age Note:   % is number of claimants as a proportion of resident population of the same age

Working-age client group - main benefit claimants - not seasonally adjusted [Discontinued] (November 2016)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
Total claimants	15,250	11.0	9.0	11.0
By statistical group
Job seekers	1,800	1.3	0.8	1.1
ESA and incapacity benefits	7,660	5.5	4.8	6.1
Lone parents	1,540	1.1	0.9	1.0
Carers	2,690	1.9	1.5	1.7
Others on income related benefits	310	0.2	0.1	0.2
Disabled	1,000	0.7	0.7	0.8
Bereaved	250	0.2	0.2	0.2
Main out-of-work benefits†	11,310	8.2	6.6	8.4
Source: DWP benefit claimants - working age client group †   Main out-of-work benefits includes the groups: job seekers, ESA and incapacity benefits, lone parents and others on income related benefits. See the Definitions and Explanations below for details Notes:   % is a proportion of resident population of area aged 16-64   Figures in this table do not yet include claimants of Universal Credit

Labour Demand

Jobs density (2022)

	Luton (jobs)	Luton (density)	East (density)	Great Britain (density)
Jobs density	122,000	0.84	0.84	0.87
Source: ONS jobs density Notes:   The density figures represent the ratio of total jobs to population aged 16-64.   Total jobs includes employees, self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces

Employee jobs (2022)

	Luton (employee jobs)	Luton (%)	East (%)	Great Britain (%)
Total employee jobs	108,000	-	-	-
Full-time	73,000	67.6	68.3	68.8
Part-time	35,000	32.4	31.7	31.2
Employee jobs by industry
B : Mining and quarrying	0	0.0	0.0	0.2
C : Manufacturing	6,000	5.6	7.4	7.6
D : Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	35	0.0	0.2	0.4
E : Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	175	0.2	0.8	0.7
F : Construction	4,000	3.7	6.7	4.9
G : Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	11,000	10.2	15.5	14.0
H : Transportation and storage	9,000	8.3	5.6	5.0
I : Accommodation and food service activities	6,000	5.6	7.9	8.0
J : Information and communication	2,000	1.9	3.6	4.6
K : Financial and insurance activities	500	0.5	2.4	3.3
L : Real estate activities	2,250	2.1	1.9	1.9
M : Professional, scientific and technical activities	6,000	5.6	8.0	9.1
N : Administrative and support service activities	35,000	32.4	11.0	9.0
O : Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	3,500	3.2	3.5	4.7
P : Education	8,000	7.4	8.7	8.6
Q : Human health and social work activities	11,000	10.2	12.4	13.5
R : Arts, entertainment and recreation	1,500	1.4	2.2	2.4
S : Other service activities	1,250	1.2	1.7	2.0
Source: ONS Business Register and Employment Survey : open access -   Data unavailable Notes:   % is a proportion of total employee jobs excluding farm-based agriculture   Employee jobs excludes self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces   Data excludes farm-based agriculture

Earnings by place of work (2023)

	Luton (pounds)	East (pounds)	Great Britain (pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers	658.9	673.5	682.6
Male full-time workers	758.6	717.8	728.3
Female full-time workers	594.0	607.9	629.1
Hourly pay - excluding overtime
Full-time workers	17.35	17.00	17.49
Male full-time workers	18.12	17.64	18.14
Female full-time workers	15.39	15.93	16.65
Source: ONS annual survey of hours and earnings - workplace analysis Notes:   Median earnings in pounds for employees working in the area.

Businesses

UK Business Counts (2023)

	Luton (numbers)	Luton (%)	East (numbers)	East (%)
Enterprises
Micro (0 to 9)	7,195	91.5	241,525	89.6
Small (10 to 49)	535	6.8	22,955	8.5
Medium (50 to 249)	95	1.2	4,125	1.5
Large (250+)	35	0.4	970	0.4
Total	7,860	-	269,575	-
Local Units
Micro (0 to 9)	7,805	86.8	263,115	85.2
Small (10 to 49)	930	10.3	36,960	12.0
Medium (50 to 249)	215	2.4	7,585	2.5
Large (250+)	45	0.5	1,025	0.3
Total	8,995	-	308,685	-
Source: Inter Departmental Business Register (ONS) Note:   % is as a proportion of total (enterprises or local units)

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.

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 #.

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 number of people measured by 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.

Workless Households

Households

A household is defined as a single person, or a group of people living at the same address who have the address as their only or main residence and either share one main meal a day or share living accommodation (or both). For the purposes of this table, estimates only include those households where at least 1 person is aged 16 to 64.

Workless households

Households where no-one aged 16 or over is in employment. These members may be unemployed or economically inactive. Economically inactive members may be unavailable to work because of family commitments, retirement or study, or unable to work through sickness or disability.

Children

Children refers to all children under 16.

Occupation

Occupations are classified according to the Standard Occupation Classification 2010. Descriptions of the job titles included in each code are available in the SOC manuals.

Qualifications

Qualifications data are only available from the APS for calendar year periods, for example, Jan to Dec 2022. From Jan to Dec 2022, qualifications are measured using the Registered Qualifications Framework (RQFs). Under RQFs, Trade Apprenticeships are accurately classified to the relevant levels. For Jan to Dec 2021 and prior, qualifications were measured using the National Vocational Qualifications framework (NVQs). The trade apprenticeships were split 50/50 between NVQ levels 2 and 3.

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 RQF/NVQ level are available in the full Annual Population Survey data set (Query data).

No qualifications

No formal qualifications held.

Other qualifications

includes foreign qualifications and some professional qualifications.

RQF/NVQ 1 equivalent

e.g. fewer than 5 GCSEs at grades A-C, foundation GNVQ, NVQ 1, intermediate 1 national qualification (Scotland) or equivalent.

RQF/NVQ 2 equivalent

e.g. 5 or more GCSEs at grades A-C, intermediate GNVQ, NVQ 2, intermediate 2 national qualification (Scotland) or equivalent.

RQF/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.

RQF/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.

Out-Of-Work Benefits

Claimant Count (Experimental Statistics)

The Claimant Count is the number of people claiming benefit principally for the reason of being unemployed. This is measured by combining the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and National Insurance credits with the number of people receiving Universal Credit principally for the reason of being unemployed. Claimants 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 measure of the number of people receiving Universal Credit principally for the reason of being unemployed is still being developed by the Department for Work and Pensions. Consequently this component of the total Claimant Count does not yet correctly reflect the target population of unemployed claimants and is subject to revisions. For this reason the Claimant Count is currently designated as Experimental Statistics.

The Claimant Count is mostly derived from DWP administrative systems. For various reasons, e.g. a claimant's National Insurance number is not known, a small number of claims have to be dealt with manually. These clerical claims do not have as much detail as the computerised claims and therefore, whilst part of the claimant count by sex table, cannot be included the age breakdown.

Rates by age

Unemployment benefits normally only apply to people aged 18 years and over. They can only be claimed by 16 and 17 year olds in exceptional circumstances. Consequently the counts for this age group are typically very low.

DWP Working-Age Client Group

From August 2017 DWP discontinued this dataset when they changed the way they publish their benefit statistics. The last period of data is the November 2016 figures published in May 2017.

The number of working-age people who are claiming one or more main DWP benefits. The main 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.

Main 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 Bulletin. The Nomis series uses DWP Jobseeker's Allowance numbers, whilst the Labour Market Bulletin uses the Claimant Count, using different methods, coverage and reference periods

Labour Demand

Labour demand includes jobs available within the area.

Jobs Density

The level 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 Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) - an employer survey conducted in September of each year. The BRES 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 BRES, part-time employees are those working for 30 or fewer hours per week.

Note

All figures exclude farm-based agriculture

Earnings by Place of Work

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.

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.

UK Business Counts

The data contained in the table are compiled from an extract taken from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) recording the position of units as at March of the reference year. The IDBR contains information on VAT traders and PAYE employers in a statistical register which provides the basis for the Office for National Statistics to conduct surveys of businesses.

The table presents analysis of businesses at both Enterprise and Local Unit level. An Enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units (generally based on VAT and/or PAYE records) which has a certain degree of autonomy within an Enterprise Group. An individual site (for example a factory or shop) in an enterprise is called a local unit.

The employment information on the IDBR is drawn mainly from the Business Register Employment Survey (BRES). Because this is based on a sample of enterprises, estimates from previous returns and from other ONS surveys have also been used. For the smallest units, either PAYE jobs or employment imputed from VAT turnover is used.

Estimates in the table are rounded to prevent disclosure.

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