Labour Market Update
This quarter’s UK labour market update shows a labour market that may be on the turn:
- The number of workforce jobs, employees on payroll, claimant count, unemployment rate and vacancies all went in the wrong direction during November.
- However, employment and hours worked did increase, and economic inactivity decreased.
- Earnings continue to rise in real terms.
UK Labour Market Overview November 2024
Regional Labour Market Profile
The data contained in this dashboard highlights the variations that exist around the nations and regions of the UK across 14 separate labour market indicators.
Each devolved nation and English region has been ranked in terms of their relative performance against each indicator.
However, it should be noted that as labour markets are extremely complicated concepts and rarely conform to a statistical summary based on such a wide range of factors, this analysis should be treated as indicative only.
Regional Labour Market Dashboard
Headlines
Based on their average rank across the 14 indicators, the 12 nations and regions of the UK are ranked in the following order (from “best” performing to “worst”):
| Rank | Nation/Region | Average rank (out of 12) | Number of indicators performing “better” than UK average (out of 14 indicators) |
| 1st | London | 3.7 | 11 |
| 2nd | South East | 4.7 | 7 |
| 3rd | South West | 5.1 | 8 |
| 4th | East Midlands | 5.4 | 6 |
| 5th | West Midlands | 5.4 | 7 |
| 6th | East of England | 6.1 | 6 |
| 7th | Scotland | 6.3 | 6 |
| =8th | North West | 6.6 | 4 |
| =8th | Yorkshire and The Humber | 6.6 | 2 |
| 10th | Wales | 8.7 | 2 |
| 11th | Northern Ireland | 8.9 | 4 |
| 12th | North East | 9.8 | 1 |
In theory, attracting and retaining the right skills could prove to be more of a challenge in those nations and regions which are ranked towards the bottom of this list.
Conversely, in those nations and regions which are ranked towards the top of this list, it is likely attracting and retaining the right skills could be easier.
Further information
For further information on the data contained in this summary, or to discuss how these aspects of the labour market may affect your organisation’s talent attraction and retention strategies, please contact: Rob Murphy, Workforce Planning Consultant, rob.murphy@euskills.co.uk.