UK Job Market Stable But Growth Seems to Have Slowed

UK EMPLOYMENT - For the three months ending December 2019, the highest employment rate estimate in the UK was in the South West (80.1%) and the lowest was in the North East (71.1%).

ABC Note: an ONS report for February 2020 estimates that a record 974,000 people are in employment on “zero-hour contracts” in their main job.

For the three months ending December 2019, the highest unemployment rate estimate in the UK was in the North East (6.1%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (2.4%).

For the three months ending December 2019, the highest economic inactivity rate estimate in the UK was in Northern Ireland (25.8%) and the lowest was in the South East (17.4%).

Between June and September 2019, the largest estimated increase in workforce jobs in the UK was in the South West at 42,000, while the largest decrease was in the South East at 51,000.

In September 2019, the region with the highest estimated proportion of workforce jobs in the services sector was London at 91.8%, while the East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector at 13.6%.

The highest average estimated actual weekly hours worked, for the 12 months ending September 2019, was in London at 34.0 hours and the lowest was in the North East at 31.0 hours; for full-time and part-time workers it was highest for both in Northern Ireland, at 38.6 hours and 17.2 hours respectively.

Commenting on today’s productivity figures, ONS deputy chief economist Richard Heys said:

“UK productivity has moved very little over the past 18 months, with quarterly fluctuations broadly cancelling each other out. Over the longer term, growth in productivity remains much slower than before the economic downturn of 2008-09.”

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