North East regional labour market statistics

Introduction

On Tuesday 17th December 2024, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released the latest regional labour market data, much of which covered the three-month period of August to October 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 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 region, although the detail is more limited.

Headline rates

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

• The lowest working age employment rate among the nine English regions (69.3%, England 75.4%)
• the second highest unemployment rate (5.4% of economically active adults, England 4.4%) 
• the highest working age economic inactivity rate (26.8%, England 21.1%).

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

• Employment in the North East region was estimated to have decreased by about 4,600
• the working age (16 to 64) employment rate was estimated to have fallen by 1.1 percentage points (pp)
• this was the third largest pp decrease among the nine English regions. England’s rate increased by 0.1 pp
• North East regional unemployment was estimated to have increased by 18,200, with the rate increasing by 1.4 pp
• this was the largest pp increase among the English regions. England rate's increased by 0.3 pp over the year
• there was an estimated increase of 7,700 in working age economic inactivity in the region, with the rate increasing by 0.2 pp
• this was the median pp change among the English regions. England’s rate decreased by 0.3 pp
• regional labour market statistics now take account of the latest population estimates. These highlighted recent increases in the North East population.

Females and males

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

• The male and female working age employment rates (69.6% and 69.0%, respectively) were both the lowest among the nine English regions
• The 0.6 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 (8.8 pp) than for females (3.4 pp)
• the female and male working age economic inactivity rates (28.8% and 24.8%, respectively) were both the highest among English regions
• the male unemployment rate (7.4%) was the highest regional rate, while the female rate (3.3%) was the fourth lowest of the nine regions
• compared to a year earlier, female employment in the region was almost 2,000 higher, but male employment was 6,500 lower
• experimental estimates suggest that, in percentage terms, the largest decrease in North East employment over the year had been among males aged 25 to 34.

PAYE employees

Early, seasonally adjusted, estimates for November 2024 indicate that: 

• The number of PAYE employees in the North East region was about 2,700 higher than in November 2023, with the total in the North East combined authority area about 1,600 higher 
• in the latest month, however, the number of such employees decreased by almost 1,400 across the North East region, with the North East combined authority area total falling by almost 1,200
• median monthly payroll pay in the North East region in November 2024 was about 6.6% higher than a year earlier, a slightly larger percentage increase than nationally (up 6.3%)
• both percentage pay increases were higher than the latest CPIH annual rate of inflation (3.2% in October 2024)
• North East regional median employee pay was about 95% 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 November 2024:

• About 49,700 people in the North East combined authority area were receiving benefits for this purpose, about 3,700 more than in November 2023
• the latest total represented about 4.1% of the working age population, a lower rate than England’s (4.3%) 
• the male rate in the North East (4.7%) was higher than the female rate (3.4%)
• within the North East, the rate was highest in South Tyneside (5.4%) and lowest in Northumberland (3.2%).

Redundancies

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

• Just over 5,300 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 4.9 per 1,000 employees, higher than the England equivalent (3.7)
• 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 Sep-Nov 2024 three-month period:

• HR1 forms were received from 31 employers in the North East region
• potential redundancies cited in these forms totalled about 1,700
• this was slightly lower than the equivalent total in the same period of 2023
• this dataset is an estimate of potential rather than actual redundancies and does not include information about smaller-scale redundancies.