Employment rate continues to grow

Over 3.4 million people are currently employed in the north west, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

The latest figures show 3.48 million people are employed in the region, up 56,000 on the year and up 302,000 since 2010.

The north west unemployment level has more than halved since 2010, in line with the national figure of 3.8%, the lowest level since 1974.

Currently 136,000 are unemployed in the north west – down 17,000 on the year.

Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry, Rossendale MP, said: “These latest figures are welcome news for the Northern Powerhouse and are a further demonstration of the strong progress we have made to help people find work.

“Since 2010, unemployment in the north west has more than halved and there have been 664,000 apprenticeship starts. Also, through programmes like the Local Growth Fund we are helping to boost employment and growth opportunities.”

National figures also show 14.8 million are now employed in higher skilled roles, from professional tradespeople to scientists, nurses and accountants – a boost of 2.6 million since 2010, making up over 75% of the growth in employment.

Wages outstripped inflation for the 14th month in a row, growing by 3.2%, a 1.3% rise in real terms.

Figures also show 3.9 million people from ethnic minority backgrounds are in work across the UK, and female unemployment has fallen to a record low of 3.7%.

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*Employment rate: The number of people in employment in the UK is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and consists of people aged 16 and over who did one hour or more of paid work per week (as an employee or self-employed), those who had a job that they were temporarily away from, those on government-supported training and employment programmes, and those doing unpaid family work.

Employment is a different, but similar, concept to jobs. Employment is a measure of people, and a person with more than one job would therefore be counted once in the employment estimates.