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Leeds - Economy - custom
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Leeds - Economy - custom - Leeds
LeedsThis report looks at the Leeds economy with measures of employment, unemployment, jobs and salaries, and benefits.
For information about wards click on the map on the Leeds Observatory home page
The council’s economic policy team also produces a range of research and regular briefing papers on the Leeds economy - Leeds Economy Handbook
Source abbreviations:
ONS APS = Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey
ONS ASHE = Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
ONS IDBR = Office for National Statistics Inter Departmental Business Register
Employed, unemployed and inactive rates in Leeds
All people aged 16 and over may be classified into one of three labour market groups - employed, unemployed or economically inactive.
The economically active population covers both people in work and unemployed people. 'Unemployed' means people are looking for work and available for work.
Economically active | Employed | Includes part-time work |
Economically active | Unemployed | Without a job - available and seeking work |
Economically inactive | Economically inactive | Not seeking work - includes sick, retired, full-time students, looking after family |
Please note:
The employment rate and unemployment rate are worked out slightly differently so the three headline figures above don't quite add up to 100%.
The official figures for employment, unemployment and inactivity are from a national survey and are not available at ward level.
For a more detailed explanation, see A guide to labour market statistics
Employment
Employment rate is the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 in employment, including part-time work.
For a more detailed explanation, see A guide to labour market statistics

2017-09 | 2017-12 | 2018-03 | 2018-06 | 2018-09 | 2018-12 | 2019-03 | 2019-06 | 2019-09 | 2019-12 | 2020-03 | 2020-06 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment rate - aged 16-64 | ||||||||||||
Leeds | 75.3 | 76.6 | 76.9 | 77.2 | 75.5 | 75.0 | 75.5 | 74.3 | 74.4 | 74.6 | 75.8 | 78.5 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 73.0 | 73.4 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.4 | 73.6 | 73.7 | 73.8 | 73.8 | 73.7 | 74.0 | 74.6 |
England | 74.7 | 75.1 | 75.2 | 75.2 | 75.3 | 75.4 | 75.6 | 75.8 | 75.9 | 76.0 | 76.2 | 76.5 |
Unemployment
Unemployment rate is the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed aged 16 and over.
The model-based unemployment rate is the official measure for local authorities.
For a more detailed explanation, see A guide to labour market statistics
Please note: figures for people claiming unemployment-related benefits are updated more frequently than the offical unemployment rate, so can be useful for giving an indication about recent changes. See the section People claiming unemployment-related benefits in Leeds

2017-09 | 2017-12 | 2018-03 | 2018-06 | 2018-09 | 2018-12 | 2019-03 | 2019-06 | 2019-09 | 2019-12 | 2020-03 | 2020-06 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unemployment rate (model based) | ||||||||||||
Leeds | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
England | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
Economic inactivity
Economically inactive rate is the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who are without a job and who are not seeking work or available for work.
The main economically inactive groups are students, people looking after family and home, long-term sick and disabled, temporarily sick and disabled, retired people and discouraged workers.
At local authority level, the numbers for 'discouraged' or 'temporary sick' are small so cannot be published on the chart.
For a more detailed explanation, see A guide to labour market statistics

(35.5% of inactive)
(22.2% of inactive)
(9.5% of inactive)
(20% of inactive)
(11.8% of inactive)
Change over time - employment, unemployment and economic inactivity rates
For a longer timescale and briefing notes, see Leeds Economy Handbook

Working age population in Leeds
38.3% of males
41.8% of females
Source: ONS APS (2019-12)
6.2% of males
7.2% of females
Source: ONS APS (2019-12)

Jobs and salaries in Leeds


Resident earnings refer to the earnings of people who live in the area.
Workplace earnings refer to the earnings of those who work in the area.


People claiming unemployment-related benefits in Leeds
Claimant count is a measure of the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits. It includes both people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and people claiming Universal Credit (UC) who are required to seek work.
The claimant count % is the number of claimants as a percentage of the resident population aged 16-64.
The claimant count % is not the same as the official unemployment rate because some unemployed people do not claim benefits. Also the claimant count is updated more frequently than the official unemployment rate - see Employed, unemployed and inactive rates in Leeds





Looking at changes in the claimant count over time
The claimant count is not a good measure of change over time. Under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker’s Allowance, which has the effect of increasing the claimant count.
To address this, the ONS have produced a new dataset for looking at change over time. This is the alternative claimant count and it models what the claimant count would have been if Universal Credit had been in place since 2013.
Coming soon…
Chart showing change over time in the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits - using alternative claimant count.
Coronavirus crisis - Although we need the alternative claimant count to look at longer-term trends, we can use the unadjusted claimant count to give us a measure of how the number of claimants has changed in response to the coronavirus pandemic - see tables and charts below.
Rise in people claiming unemployment related benefits (claimant count) in Leeds during the Coronavirus crisis.

2020-05 | 2020-06 | 2020-07 | 2020-08 | 2020-09 | 2020-10 | 2020-11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age 16+ - Total - Claimant count | 35,050 | 35,250 | 35,790 | 36,025 | 35,855 | 35,000 | 35,450 |
Age 16+ - Total - Claimant count % | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.9 | 7 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
Rise in claimant count during the Coronavirus crisis - different age groups



2020-05 | 2020-06 | 2020-07 | 2020-08 | 2020-09 | 2020-10 | 2020-11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aged 16-24 - Total - Claimant count | 7,155 | 7,505 | 7,745 | 7,720 | 7,745 | 7,580 | 7,465 |
Aged 16-24 - Total - Claimant count % | 6 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.4 | 6.3 |
2020-05 | 2020-06 | 2020-07 | 2020-08 | 2020-09 | 2020-10 | 2020-11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aged 25-49 - Total - Claimant count | 21,015 | 20,965 | 21,085 | 21,225 | 21,015 | 20,420 | 20,720 |
Aged 25-49 - Total - Claimant count % | 7.9 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 7.8 |
2020-05 | 2020-06 | 2020-07 | 2020-08 | 2020-09 | 2020-10 | 2020-11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aged 50+ - Total - Claimant count | 6,875 | 6,780 | 6,960 | 7,080 | 7,090 | 6,995 | 7,265 |
Aged 50+ - Total - Claimant count % | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.6 |
Low income and poverty in Leeds
This section looks at child poverty and fuel poverty.
For more information about poverty and low income, see the Leeds Poverty Fact Book
See also our resources on Index of Multiple Deprivation
Child poverty
The new HMRC and DWP combined Local Measure for Children in Low Income Families replaces DWP’s Children in out-of-work benefit households and HMRC’s Personal Tax Credits: Children in low income families.
It is designed to provide a more coherent picture of children in low-income families. For more information about the data, see Children in low income families local area statistics
In Leeds there are 34,871 children under 16 living in low income families. This is 22.9% of children in Leeds (2018-2019)


Fuel poverty
In Leeds, 10.3% of households (34,657 households) are experiencing fuel poverty (2018).
Fuel poverty is worked out by looking at low income and high energy costs.
For more information, see the government's Fuel poverty methodology

