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Leeds - Economy - custom
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Leeds - Economy - custom - Leeds
LeedsThis report looks at Leeds economy; with measures of employment, unemployment, jobs and salaries, and benefits.
For information about wards or other areas within Leeds, click on 'Profiles (local areas)' and choose a geography.
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
Leeds economic activity and employment
All people aged 16 and over may be classified into one of three labour market groups - employed, unemployed or economically inactive.
| 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 |
The official figures for employment rate and unemployment rate are worked out slightly differently so the three headline figures above don't quite add up to 100%.
The economically active population covers both people in work and people looking for work and available for work.
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
| 2017-03 | 2017-06 | 2017-09 | 2017-12 | 2018-03 | 2018-06 | 2018-09 | 2018-12 | 2019-03 | 2019-06 | 2019-09 | 2019-12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate - aged 16-64 | ||||||||||||
| Leeds | 74.9 | 75.8 | 75.3 | 76.6 | 76.9 | 77.2 | 75.5 | 75 | 75.5 | 74.3 | 74.4 | 74.6 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 72.8 | 73 | 73 | 73.4 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.4 | 73.6 | 73.7 | 73.8 | 73.8 | 73.7 |
| England | 74.4 | 74.6 | 74.7 | 75.1 | 75.2 | 75.2 | 75.3 | 75.4 | 75.6 | 75.8 | 75.9 | 76 |
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.
The unemployment rate includes people who are unemployed but not claiming benefits, so it is higher than the claimant count rate.
For a more detailed explanation, see A guide to labour market statistics
| 2017-03 | 2017-06 | 2017-09 | 2017-12 | 2018-03 | 2018-06 | 2018-09 | 2018-12 | 2019-03 | 2019-06 | 2019-09 | 2019-12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate (model based) | ||||||||||||
| Leeds | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 4.9 | 5 | 4.9 | 5 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| England | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4 | 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
(37.4% of inactive)
(21.4% of inactive)
(9.1% of inactive)
(18.8% of inactive)
(10.9% of inactive)
Working age population
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
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
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 lower than the official unemployment rate because some unemployed people do not claim benefits.
Looking at changes in the claimant count rate 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 table below.
| 2020-02 | 2020-03 | 2020-04 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 16+ - Total - Claimant count | 17,695 | 18,120 | 28,915 |
| Age 16+ - Total - Claimant count % | 3.4 | 3.5 | 5.6 |
Low income and poverty
The Children in Low-Income Families Local Measure is the proportion of children living in families either:
in receipt of out-of-work benefits or
in receipt of tax credits with a reported income which is less than 60 per cent of national median income.
In Leeds there are 29,660 children under 16 living in low income families (rounded to 5). This is 20.3% of children in Leeds (2016)
Children in out-of-work benefit claimant households
In Leeds, there are 27,625 children aged 0-18 living in households where a parent or guardian is claiming an out-of-work benefit - Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance, Pension Credit or Universal Credit. The figures are produced annually and the latest are from 2017.
For more information, see the government's Guidelines on the use and interpretation of official statistics on children in out-of-work benefit households
Fuel poverty
In Leeds, 11.1% of households (2017) are experiencing fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty is worked out by looking at low income and high energy costs.
For more information, see the government's Fuel poverty methodology
