Unemployment rate
In the April 2023 to March 2024 period, among economically active adults:
- The unemployment rate was 4.1%
- this rate was 0.5 percentage points (pp) above the England excluding London rate, but the gap had narrowed in the latest year
- the rate was 0.3 pp lower than a year earlier and was the lowest rate since the start of a consistent time series in 2004
- the North East had the median unemployment rate among the nine combined authority areas in the north and midlands
- at local authority level, Newcastle had the highest unemployment rate, with North Tyneside having the lowest.
Among people aged 16 to 64:
- the percentage in the North East classified as unemployed was at its lowest level across the consistent 20 year time series
- the same was true for the percentage classified as economically inactive and wanting a job
- on the other hand, the percentage classified as economically inactive and not wanting a job was at its highest since 2004-05.