Do you know the SW Labour Market?

Thursday, November 3, 2016
The Office for National Statistics regularly release Labour Market Intelligence and we thought you might like to see their November 2015 snapshot for the South West.  We think it is useful to consider the bigger picture when you are looking to recruit – it helps you to understand the state of the market for new employees generally – and here in the SW the labour market is doing well.

Here are the headlines:

  • The UK employment rate, for the 3 months ending September 2015, was highest in the South West (77.9%) – down from the 3 months ending August 2015 (78.4%).
  • The UK unemployment rate, for the 3 months ending September 2015, was lowest in the South East and South West (3.9%) – down from the 3 months ending August 2015 (4.0%).
  • The UK inactivity rate, for the 3 months ending September 2015, was lowest in the South West (18.9%) – up from the 3 months ending August 2015 (18.2%).

So in the South West we have more people in work and fewer people inactive/unemployed than anywhere else in the UK – making for a competitive market place!

The general pattern is for gently falling unemployment rates across the UK, although some of those regional falls appear to be levelling off.

The ONS release statistics monthly, and if you are interested you can find them here.

If you want to test out the market by recruiting a graduate go to www.gradsouthwest.com