Employment by sector

About the source

• The Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) is an annual survey of employers
• it is undertaken each September with the results published about 12 months later
• only businesses that are registered for VAT and/or PAYE purposes are surveyed
• it provides official estimates of the number of employees in each industry sector
• a further variable, employment, gives estimates of the combined number of employees and working owners
• BRES does not include all employment as it omits self-employed workers in unregistered businesses
• it also excludes HM Forces employees and government supported trainees.

North East employment in 2022

The ONS provides summaries of employment broken down by broad industry group. Our analysis separates arts, education and recreation from other, mainly personal and membership, services. Among these 19 broad industry groups in 2022:

• Health was the largest employer in the North East with employment of 124,000
• the next three largest were education, manufacturing and retail, each with employment of about 80,000
• three others had employment between 60,000 and 70,000: accommodation and food services; business administration support; and public administration and defence
• together, these seven business groups were responsible for more than two thirds of North East employment.

Part-time workers and working owners

Among the 19 broad industry groups in 2022:

• There were two where part-time employees made up more than three fifths of total employment
• these were retail and accommodation and food services
• arts, entertainment and recreation was the only other group where half of those in employment were part-time employees
• in the "other services" industry group, just over 40% of employment was among part-time employees
• this was also true in education
• almost 65% of people in employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing were working owners
• only two other industry groups had working owners making up more than 10% of employment
• these were property and motor trades.

Differences within the North East

In 2022, among the 19 broad industry groups:

• Health had the largest employment totals in Newcastle, Northumberland and South Tyneside
• it had the joint highest employment totals in County Durham and Gateshead, with, respectively, manufacturing and retail
• manufacturing had the highest employment total in Sunderland
• in North Tyneside, this was true for business admin and support.

Change over time

This employment data is available from 2015 to 2022, during that period:

• total employment in registered businesses increased by 14,000
• the largest increases were in transport and storage; education; and public administration and defence
• employment in each of these three industry groups increased by 7,000 to 9,000
• the largest decrease (by 13,000) was in manufacturing
• no other industry group had a decrease of more than 3,000.

In the latest year (2021 to 2022):

• Total employment decreased by 7,000
• the largest decreases were in professional, scientific and technical activities; accommodation and food services; and construction
• these each had single year decreases of between 6,000 and 10,000
• no industry group had an employment increase of more than 4,000.

Industry divisions

The ONS breaks down registered enterprise employment into 88 industry divisions:

• only 83 divisions have workers within the North East
• the number of divisions varies among the 19 broad industry groups
• for example, the three public administration, health and education industry groups are only broken down into five divisions
• on the other hand, the single manufacturing group is divided into 24 divisions.

Health, education, public administration

• These industry groups make up 32% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• they contain five divisions
• the education division is the largest (almost 10% of North East employment)
• this is followed by human health activities (almost 9%) and public administration and defence (just over 7%)
• the two social care divisions (6% between them) are the smallest of the five.

Retail, transport, hospitality

• These industry groups make up over 26% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• they contain ten divisions
• the retail (excluding motor trade) division is the largest of the ten
• this is followed by food and beverage services.

Information, financial, professional, scientific

• These industry groups make up almost 13% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• they contain 17 divisions
• the real estate activities division is the largest of the 17
• this is followed by legal and accounting activities and then by computer related activities.

Business administration and other services

• These industry groups make up just over 12% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• they contain 13 divisions
• the office administration and support division is the largest of the 13
• this is followed by employment activities and services to buildings and landscape.

Manufacturing

• This industry group makes up almost 10% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• it contains 24 divisions
• manufacture of fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment) is the largest of the 24 divisions
• this is followed by manufacture of motor vehicles.

Agriculture, utilities, construction

• These industry groups make up just under 7% of North East employment in registered enterprises
• they contain 16 divisions
• the specialised construction activities division is the largest of the 16
• this is followed by crop and animal production and related services.

Broad industry comparisons

Among the 19 broad industry groups in 2022, the share of North East employment in registered enterprises differed from that in England as a whole. In particular:

• The North East employment in public administration and defence was 7.2% of the total compared to 4.2% in England, a 3.0 pp difference
• the shares of North East employment in manufacturing, health, and education were also all more than 1.5 pp higher than nationally
• in contrast, the employment share of  professional, technical and scientific activities was almost 4 pp lower than nationally
• North East employment shares in information and communication and in wholesale were both also more than 1.5 pp lower than in England.

Location quotients

• The comparisons of pp (percentage point) differences in shares of total employment are useful for identifying regional specialisms in similarly sized sectors
• however, location quotients (LQs) are more useful where sector sizes vary
• for a sector in an area, the employment location quotient is calculated by dividing its percentage of employment in that area by the national equivalent
• if a sector is resposible for 5% of an area's employment, for example, and nationally it is only resposible for 2%, the location quotient for the sector in that area is 2.5
• among the 19 broad industry groups in the North East, the location quotient is highest for public administration and defence (1.72)
• it is also high for manufacturing, education and health.

Industry divisions

Among the 88 industry divisions in the North East in 2022:

• The location quotient was highest for the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations
• the second highest location quotient was for the manufacture of motor vehicles
• among the highest 20 location quotients for the North East divisions, 12 were in manufacturing
• we have omitted divisions with North East employment below 300 from our analysis, as statistics for these are based on a small number of survey responses.

Industry classes

BRES provides employment data for more than 600 industry classes. Comparing the North East location quotients for each of these in 2022:

• The two highest North East location quotients were for the manufacture of batteries and accumulators and the manufacture of fibre optic cables
• there were 43 industry classes with a North East location quotient higher than 2
• the majority of these (30 out of 43) were in manufacturing
• most of these classes had North East employment of less than 2,000
• five had employment totals of 4,000 or more: general public administration; social security; call centres; manufacture of motor vehicles; and manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles
• in total, these 43 classes were responsible for almost 12% of North East employment, compared to only 4.4% in England

• as with industry divisions, we have omitted classes with North East employment below 300 from our analysis, due to issues with small sample sizes.

Industry divisions, top 20 LQs

This table shows the 20 industry divisions (out of 88 in total) that had the highest North East employment location quotients in 2022. Some division names have been simplified.

The LQs have been calculated by the North East LEP from rounded totals. Divisions with North East employment of less than 300 have been excluded from the analysis due to small sample sizes. The table is sorted by SIC code so that divisions are grouped within broad industries.

Industry classes with a LQ of 3 or more

This table shows the 22 industry classes (out of over 600 in total) that had North East employment location quotients (LQs) of 3 or more in 2022. Some class names have been simplified.

The LQs have been calculated by the North East LEP from rounded totals. Classes with North East employment of less than 300 have been excluded from the analysis due to small sample sizes. The table is sorted by SIC code so that classes are grouped within broad industries.

Industry classes with a LQ of 2 to 3

This table shows the 21 industry classes (out of over 600 in total) that had North East employment location quotients (LQs) of between 2 and 3 in 2022. Some class names have been simplified.

The LQs have been calculated by the North East LEP from rounded totals. Classes with North East employment of less than 300 have been excluded from the analysis due to small sample sizes. The table is sorted by SIC code so that classes are grouped within broad industries.