Employment rates increase

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of people in either part-time or full-time employment in North Lincolnshire rose to 74.5 per cent between April 2017 and March 2018.

This was an increase of 1.7 percentage points from the previous year, when the rate was at 72.8 per cent.

It comes as the Government celebrated record high employment for the UK in the latest quarterly national figures, which cover the period from March to May.

These show employment across the country rising to 75.7 per cent, up by 0.8 percentage points from the same quarter a year ago.

Though local employment figures are released simultaneously with the national statistics, they only cover the 12 months to March.

In that 12 month period, national employment was 74.8 per cent, putting North Lincolnshire 0.3 percentage points below the national average.

The working-age population is grouped into three categories by the ONS - employed, unemployed or economically inactive.

This third category includes people who are not looking for a job, such as students or people with an illness or disability.

Of the approximately 104,000-strong working age population - those aged between 16 and 64 - in North Lincolnshire in 2017/18, 79,000 were employed.

The unemployment rate was 4.7 per cent - down from 5 per cent the previous year - while the number of economically inactive people was 20.9 per cent.

This was a decrease of 2.4 percentage points on the previous year.

In Yorkshire and the Humber 73.5 per cent of people were employed in 2017/18, up from 72.8 per cent the previous year.

Across Britain the employment rate ranged from a low of 60.8 per cent for small residential population of the City of London to a high of 91.3 per cent in Dartford, Kent.

The area with the lowest rate of employment and the highest rate of unemployment was the North East -71 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively.

The South East had the highest employment, at 78.5 per cent, while the lowest unemployment rate was in the South West, at 3.3 per cent.

Despite high employment, almost every region saw an increase in the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits such as Job Seeker’s Allowance. Some employed people are able to claim these benefits if they work less than 16 hours per week and are on a low income.