North East regional labour market statistics

Introduction

On Tuesday 18th February, the ONS released the latest regional labour market data, much of which covered the three-month period of October to December (Q4) 2024. 

The release is the headline summary of the most up to date statistics about the labour market in the nine broad English regions, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It accompanies a more detailed UK labour market summary. The North East region in 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 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 North East regional labour market release provides a timelier snapshot of headline trends for the broader region, although the detail is more limited.

Headline rates

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

• The lowest working age employment rate among the nine English regions (70.3%, England 75.4%)
• the second highest unemployment rate (5.0% of economically active adults, England 4.5%) 
• the highest working age economic inactivity rate (26.0%, England 21.0%).

Compared to a year earlier (Oct-Dec 2023):

• Employment in the region was estimated to have decreased by about 1,600
• the working age (16 to 64) employment rate was estimated to have fallen by 1.5 percentage points (pp)
• the change was the third largest pp decrease among the nine English regions. In contrast, England’s rate increased by 0.1 pp
• North East regional unemployment was estimated to have increased by 12,100, with the rate increasing by 0.9 pp
• this was the fourth largest pp increase among the English regions. England rate's increased by 0.5 pp over the year
• there was an estimated increase of 18,500 in working age economic inactivity in the region, with the rate increasing by 0.8 pp
• this was the second highest pp change among the English regions and contrasted with the decrease of 0.6 pp in England’s rate.

Females and males

In the Oct-Dec 2024 three-month period, in the North East region:

• The male working age employment rate (70.9%) was the lowest among the nine English regions, with the female rate (69.8%) being the second lowest 
• The 1.1 pp gap between the rates was the smallest in the English regions. The gap between the North East and England rates was much larger for males (7.7 pp) than for females (2.4 pp)
• the male working age economic inactivity rate (24.5%) was the highest among the regions, with the female rate (27.5%) being the second highest
• the male unemployment rate (6.4%) was the highest regional rate, while the female rate (3.7%) was the third lowest among the nine regions
• compared to a year earlier, female employment in the region was 8,200 higher, but male employment was 9,800 lower
• experimental estimates suggest that, in percentage terms, the largest decreases in North East employment over the year had been among males and females aged 16 to 24 and the largest increase had been among females aged 50 to 64.

PAYE employees

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

• The number of PAYE employees in the North East region was about 900 higher than in January 2024, with the total in the North East combined authority area almost 500 higher 
• compared to a month earlier, the number of such employees was unchanged across the wider region, but the North East combined authority area total was 600 higher
• median monthly payroll pay in the North East region in January 2025 was about 6.0% higher than a year earlier, a slightly larger percentage increase than nationally (up 5.7%)
• both percentage pay increases were higher than the latest CPIH annual rate of inflation (3.9% in January 2025)
• North East regional median employee pay was about 94% 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. It is subject to revisions.

Jobseeker benefits

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

• About 48,500 people in the North East combined authority area were receiving benefits for this purpose, about 2,600 more than in January 2024
• the latest total represented about 4.0% of the working age population, a lower rate than England’s (4.3%) 
• within the North East, the rate was highest in South Tyneside (5.3%) and lowest in Northumberland (3.1%)
• the male rate for the North East (4.6%) was higher than the female rate (3.0%).

Redundancies

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

• Almost 2,600 people in the North East region stated that they had been made redundant in the three months prior to interview 
• this was equivalent to a rate of 2.4 per 1,000 employees, lower than the England equivalent (4.2)
• 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 Nov 2024-Jan 2025 three-month period:

• HR1 forms were received from 32 employers in the region
• potential redundancies cited in these forms totalled almost 2,000
• this was lower than 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.