Employment, The Pre-election Position
The state of Employment in the run up to the General Election, April 2010
Employment
As a precursor to the election, this briefing presents the UK’s employment position, in figures.
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 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%
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%
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