Member Article

North East employment sees “statistically significant” increase

According to a recent report from Office of National Statistics (ONS), employment in the North East has risen by 15k over the quarter, and 64k over the year.

Employment in the North East stands at 1.2 million - a rate of 70%, which compares to a rate of 73% nationally.

North East unemployment stands at 126k or 9.5%, a fall of 10,000 over the quarter. This compares to a rate of 6.4% nationally.

Mark Stephenson, NECC policy and research manager, said: “Once again the North East has provided a record-breaking set of figures with more people in full time employment than ever before. A welcome addition to this is the decrease in the employment rate – one of the biggest two decreases in the UK – and an across-the-board decrease in unemployment.

“The improvement in the North East employment rate remains one of the more eye-catching statistics from across the UK and has been deemed “statistically significant” by the Office for National Statistics.

“The decrease in the claimant count figure is again welcome and continues a longer-term trend. This figure is now at its lowest since September 2008 before the financial crisis and the economic downturn.

“However, the North East still has the lowest overall employment rate as well as the highest unemployment rate in the UK which highlights the significant challenges that remain.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .