Labour market comment from the Chamber
Date published:
Arlen Pettitt, knowledge development manager, North East England Chamber of Commerce said: “There are some signs of improvement from the first three months of this year, as employment increased and unemployment fell, but we still have a gap to the rest of the country.
“The national picture may show unemployment at the lowest levels since 1974, but the North East story is different, with the highest unemployment rate, lowest employment rate and highest economic inactivity rate in England. Closing the gap to the national averages will be one of the key measures of the Government’s levelling up agenda.
“Businesses are telling us that costs are their main concern – inflation, energy, taxation, and pressure the cost of living is putting on staff pay. There was nothing in last week’s Queen’s Speech which addressed the urgency of these issues, and we need to see the Government’s act quickly to make sure the tentative improvement we’ve seen continues through the rest of 2022.”
Notes:
Employment in the North East stands at 1,199,000, a rise of 12,700 (1.1%) over the quarter but a fall of 8,700 (0.7%) over the year. The North East employment rate stands at 70.9%. This compares to a rate of 75.7% nationally.
North East unemployment stands at 62,700, a fall of 7,400 (10.6%) over the quarter and a fall of 10,700 (14.6%) over the year. The North East unemployment rate stands at 5.0%. This compares to a national rate of 3.7%.
Economic inactivity in the North East for those aged 16-64 stands at 408,000, an increase of 7,300 (1.8%) on the quarter and 28,300 (7.5%) on the year. The North East economic inactivity rate stands at 25.2%. This compares to a national rate of 21.4%.
The seasonally adjusted claimant count stands at 72,700 in the North East. This is a fall of 3,800 (5.0%) over the month and a fall of 42,500 over the year (36.9%). The claimant count rate for the North East is 5.2%.
The employment data covers the period January to March 2022. The provisional claimant count data is for April 2022.