Key Economic Statistics - January 2008

The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to November 2007 show:

• The employment rate of people of working age in Wales was 72.1 per cent, up from 71.8 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 74.7 per cent.
• The ILO unemployment rate in Wales was 5.1 per cent of the economically active, down from 5.2 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  For the UK as a whole it was 5.3 per cent.
• The rate of economic activity amongst people of working age in Wales was 76.1 per cent, up from 75.9 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 79.0 per cent.

The Short Term Employment Surveys for the quarter ending September 2007 estimate that:

• Employee jobs in Wales rose by 16,000 (1.3 per cent) over the year to stand at 1.193 million.  UK employee jobs rose by 0.8 per cent over the same period to stand at 27.1 million.
• Employee jobs in manufacturing in Wales fell by 1,000 (0.7 per cent) over the year. This was more than offset by increases elsewhere, mainly in the service and construction industries (up 11,000 and 8,000 respectively).

The claimant count rate in December 2007 for Wales was 2.7 per cent of the workforce, down 0.2 percentage points over December 2006 (UK rate 2.5 per cent).

The claimant count rate in December 2007 for West Wales and the Valleys was 2.3 per cent of the resident population of working-age.  The rate for East Wales stood at 1.9 per cent.

The Index of Production for the four quarters to quarter 3 2007 for Wales fell by 0.5 per cent compared with the previous four quarters. The UK index rose by 0.5 per cent over the same period.

The experimental Index of Distribution for Wales for the four quarters to quarter 3 2007 rose by 3.6 per cent compared with the previous four quarters. The UK index rose by 3.3 per cent over the same period.