Unemployment by Constituency, March 2013

Various changes were made to the format of this paper from last month’s edition. The paper now includes a single data table instead of two. The denominators used to calculate claimant rates for constituencies were also revised, in line with new data from the 2011 Census.

This paper contains labour market figures for parliamentary constituencies, as well as a summary of the latest national and regional statistics.

• The number of people claiming JSA decreased by 1,500 between January and February 2013 to 1.54 million people aged 18 or over.

• The wider ILO measure of unemployment was 2.52 million in the period November 2012 to January 2013, an increase of 7,000 from the last quarter but down 136,000 on the previous year. The unemployment rate was 7.8%.

• The number of people in employment was 29.73 million in November 2012 to January 2013, an all-time high. Employment increased by 131,000 compared to the previous quarter and 590,000 on the previous year. The employment rate (the proportion of the population aged 16-64 in work) was 71.5%. This compares to a pre-recession level of 73.0% in March-May 2008.

• The number of economically inactive people aged 16-64 was 8.95 million in November 2012 to January 2013, down 118,000 compared to the last quarter and down 320,000 compared to the previous year.