Labour Market In The Regions Of The UK - September 2023

14th November 2023

Regional, local authority and parliamentary constituency breakdowns of changes in UK employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other related statistics.

For the three months ending July 2023, the highest employment rate estimate in the UK was for the South East (79.6%) and the lowest was for Northern Ireland (71.1%).

The North East saw the largest increase in the employment rate compared with the same period last year, increasing by 2.7 percentage points, with the East of England seeing the largest decrease of 1.4 percentage points.

For the three months ending July 2023, the highest unemployment rate estimate in the UK was for the North West (5.3%) and the lowest was for Northern Ireland (2.7%).

The North West had the largest increase in the unemployment rate compared with the same period last year, increasing by 1.8 percentage points, with Yorkshire and The Humber seeing the largest decrease of 1.5 percentage points.

For the three months ending July 2023, the highest economic inactivity rate estimate in the UK was for Northern Ireland (26.9%) and the lowest was for the South East (17.1%).

London saw the largest increase in the economic inactivity rate compared with the same period last year, up 1.0 percentage point, with the North East seeing the largest decrease of 3.4 percentage points.

Between March and June 2023, workforce jobs decreased in 9 out of 12 regions of the UK, with London seeing the largest decrease of 72,000, while the South East increased by 71,000, Scotland by 35,000 and the North East by 12,000; London had the highest proportion of service-based jobs (92.8%), while the East Midlands had the highest proportion of production sector jobs (12.5%).

Comparing August 2023 with the same period last year, changes in payrolled employees ranged from a 1.7% increase in London to a 1.1% increase in Yorkshire and The Humber.

Read the full report HERE