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Institute for the Study of Civil Society
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Employment

As a precursor to the election, this briefing presents the UK's employment position, in figures.

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The Position Today

UK 2008/09 unless otherwise stated.
  • UK Workforce Rates of Employment
    • Employed - 72.4% (28.91 million)
    • Unemployed - 7.8% (2.46 million)
    • Inactivity - 21.3% (8.08 million)
    Inactivity includes students not in employment - 2.26 million: the highest figure since records began in 1993

  • Full and Part time Employment
    73.4% of those in employment are in full time employment
    • F/t employment - 64% male
    • P/t employment - 76% female

    % of the workforce in p/t time employment due to no available f/t employment - 3.6%
UK Workforce - 30, 861,000
By Sector:
Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing - 1.6%
Energy & water - 0.6%
Manufacturing - 9.2%
Construction - 6.8%
Distribution, hotels & restaurants - 22.1%
Transport, storage & communication - 5.9%
Banking, finance & insurance - 20.7%
Public admin, education & health - 26.7%
Other services - 6.4%

  • UK born employment rate- 75.2%
  • Non-UK born employment rate- 68.8%

  • Overall Employment rate in the most deprived areas [1] - 54.9%
  • Overall Employment rate across England - 75.2%

  • Unemployment
    Long term unemployed (>12 months) - 663, 000
    16-24 year olds Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) - 15.9%

    Total Amount of Income Support claimed [2] - £8,930 million
    Average weekly amount claimed - £82

    No. claimants Job Seekers Allowance, 01/ 2010 [3] - 1.64 million
    Single parents claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) [4] - 51,770

    Redundancies - 168,000
    Redundancy rate - 6.8/ 1000 employees

  • Work and Pay
    Average weekly hours worked - 31.5
    % of jobs paying employees less than minimum wage [5] - 0.9%

  • Median gross weekly earnings [6] - £489
  • Public Sector - £539/ week
  • Private Sector - £465/ week
  • Median gross annual earnings - £ 25,800


Notes to Editors

[1] DSO 3.7: Overall Employment rate (working age population) at neighbourhood level (in deprived areas), Department for Communities and Local Government, February 2010.
[2] Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2007-08, Department for Work and Pensions, 2009
[3] Labour market statistics, Office for National Statistics, February 2010
[4] Lone Parents receiving JSA, Department for Work and Pensions, February 2010
[5] Low pay estimates, Office for National Statistics, November 2009
[6] Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics, November 2009

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