North East regional labour market statistics

Introduction

On Tuesday 15th April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest regional labour market data, much of which covered the three-month period of December 2024 to February 2025. 

The release is the headline summary of the most up to date statistics about the labour market in the 12 UK ITL1 areas (the nine broad English regions, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). It accompanies a more detailed UK labour market summary. The North East ITL1 region used for this release includes the North East and Tees Valley combined authority areas.

Headline regional labour market rates in the release are based on responses to the ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS). However, falling response rates mean that statistics from this source have become more volatile and are currently described as “official statistics in development” rather than National Statistics. Because of this, the regional labour market release includes additional information from other sources, including administrative data.

Where possible, the North East Evidence Hub focuses on statistics at combined authority or local authority area level to monitor trends in the area's economy. Local labour market statistics are usually released every three months, with most of the related surveys covering a 12-month period. The monthly regional labour market release provides a timelier snapshot of headline trends for the broader North East ITL1 region, although the detail is more limited.

Headline rates

In the Dec 2024-Feb 2025 three-month period, the North East ITL1 region was estimated to have had:

• The lowest working age employment rate among the nine English regions (69.7%, England 75.5%)
• the second highest unemployment rate (4.8% of economically active adults, England 4.5%) 
• the highest working age economic inactivity rate (26.9%, England 20.8%).

Compared to a year earlier (Dec 2023-Feb 2024):

• Employment in the North East ITL1 region was estimated to have increased by almost 600
• the working age (16 to 64) employment rate was estimated to have fallen by 0.8 percentage points (pp)
• the different directions of travel of the total and rate were due to the employment growth being driven by an increase among those aged 65 plus, coupled with the rate of population growth among people aged 16-64 being faster than the rate of employment growth
• the rate change was the second largest pp decrease among the nine English ITL1 regions. In contrast, England’s rate increased by 0.5 pp
• North East regional unemployment was estimated to have increased by 12,400, with the rate increasing by 0.9 pp
• this was the third largest pp increase among the English regions. England rate's increased by 0.2 pp over the year
• there was an estimated increase of 6,000 in working age economic inactivity in the region, with the rate increasing by 0.1 pp
• the North East was one of only two English regions that had an increase in the inactivity rate over the year. England’s rate decreased by 0.8 pp.

Female and male employment

In the Dec 2024-Feb 2025 three-month period, in the North East ITL1 region:

• The male working age employment rate (69.8%) was the lowest among the nine English ITL1 regions, with the female rate (69.6%) being the third lowest 
• the 0.2 pp gap between the rates was, by far, the smallest in the English regions. The gap between the North East and England rates was much larger for males (9.0 pp) than for females (2.6 pp)
• the male working age economic inactivity rate (26.1%) was the highest among the regions, as was the female rate (27.7%)
• the male unemployment rate (5.9%) was the second highest regional rate, while the female rate (3.6%) was the second lowest among the nine regions
• compared to a year earlier, female employment in the region was 8,900 higher, with male employment being about 8,300 lower
• experimental estimates suggest that, in percentage terms, the largest decrease in North East employment over the year had been among males aged 16 to 24 and the largest increase had been among females aged 50 to 64.

PAYE employees

Early, seasonally adjusted, estimates for March 2025 indicate that: 

• The number of PAYE employees in the North East ITL1 region was about 3,900 lower than in March 2024, with the total in the North East combined authority area about 2,900 lower 
• compared to a month earlier, the number of such employees was 2,400 lower across the North East region, with the North East combined authority area total being about 2,000 lower
• the data provider (ONS) recommends that the March estimate be treated as provisional, with a revision likely next month
• median monthly payroll pay in the North East region in February 2025 was about 5.1% higher than a year earlier, a slightly larger percentage increase than nationally (up 4.8%)
• both percentage pay increases were higher than the latest CPIH annual rate of inflation (3.7% in February 2025)
• North East regional median employee pay was about 94.6% of the UK equivalent.

This administrative dataset gives additional evidence about recent changes in the regional and local labour market, but the source does not provide information about self-employed workers or those outside of the PAYE system.

Workforce jobs

According to the latest quarterly ONS estimate, in December 2024:

• The number of workforce jobs in the North East ITL1 region was about 31,000 higher than in December 2023
• this represented a 2.5% increase over the year, higher than England’s 1.4% increase
• the industries with the largest 12-month increases in the North East region were the accommodation and food sector and health and social work activities
• real estate activities and arts, entertainment and recreation had the largest 12-month decreases.

The workforce jobs measure is a sum of estimates of employee jobs, self-employment jobs, HM forces personnel and Government supported trainees. These estimates have a variety of sources but are a different measure to employment as one employed person may have more than one job. The data is not published for combined authority or local authority areas.

Jobseeker benefits

According to the ONS estimates of the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of seeking employment, in March 2025:

• Just over 48,600 people in the North East combined authority area were receiving benefits for this purpose, about 1,900 more than in March 2024
• the latest total represented about 3.9% of the working age population, a lower rate than England’s (4.3%) 
• within the North East, the rate was highest in South Tyneside (5.2%) and lowest in Northumberland (3.2%)
• the male rate for the North East (4.6%) was higher than the female rate (3.2%).

Redundancies

According to responses to the Labour Force Survey in the three-month period of Dec 2024-Feb 2025:

• About 3,700 people in the North East ITL1 region stated that they had been made redundant in the three months prior to interview 
• this was equivalent to a rate of 3.3 per 1,000 employees, lower than the England equivalent (4.5)
• these statistics are based on a small sample size so they can be volatile.

The ONS also publishes data based on HR1 forms used by employers to notify the Insolvency Service of potential redundancies of 20 or more. According to this, in the Jan-Mar 2025 three-month period:

• HR1 forms were received from 29 employers in the North East ITL1 region
• potential redundancies cited in these forms totalled just over 2,200
• this was similar to the total in the equivalent period a year earlier
• this dataset is an estimate of potential rather than actual redundancies and does not include information about smaller-scale redundancies.

Further analysis

Additional evidence about other aspects of the labour market is available across the Evidence Hub. The links below also include links to the ONS data sources.