Summary
Estimates of employment rates are taken from the Annual Population Survey (APS) data produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which is available down to the local authority level, (data is available for Parliamentary Constituencies.
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Key Messages:
Current figure: 70.8% (231,400 people aged 16 to 64) (October 2022 to September 2023)
- The latest figures (October 2022 to September 2023) estimate that 70.8% (231,400 people) of the county’s 16 to 64 population are employed. This is lower than the regional level (71.6%) but both are lower than national levels (75.9%),
- To achieve national levels of employment in County Durham, an additional 16,700 people of working age in County Durham would need to enter employment. This gap could be reduced if some of those people currently economically inactive and wanting a job (21,300 people) were to enter employment,
- The employment rate in County Durham for those with an Equality Act (EA) core or work limiting disability is 42.7%, much lower than the rate for those without a disability (82.6%),
- ONS estimate that around one third of people in employment work in key worker occupations (33.1%/76,000 people, Jan 2019 to Dec 2019), Office for national Statistics,
- Male employment levels are at 73.6%, higher than female employment levels of 68.1%,
- The 25 to 49 age group has the highest employment rate of 82.5%. This is higher than the region (81.4%) but slightly lower than the national average of 85.4%,
- Employment rates in the 16 to 24 age group was low at 53.2% in the county which is lower than the regional average of 55.1%, but similar to the national average of 53.3%,
- Currently 24.1% of employed residents were estimated to work in the public sector in the county, lower than the regional average of 28.8%, while the nationally the average was 22.7%, indicating a higher reliance on this sector for employment in the county,
- Currently 75.9% of employed residents in the county work in the private sector, higher than the regional average of 71.2%, while the nationally the average was 77.3%,
- Currently estimates indicate that people in County Durham are mainly employed in the Manufacturing (14%), ‘Distribution, hotels and restaurants’ (19.2%), Banking, finance and insurance, real estate services (11.4%) and the ‘Public admin, education and health’ (30.8%) industries, indicating greater reliance by the residents within the county on these industries for employment.
Links to Data:
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