Key Economic Statistics, July 2009

The bulletin includes latest information from a range of sources and covers a variety of time periods. This bulletin updates the statistics previously released on 17 June 2009.

The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to May 2009 show:

• The employment rate of people of working age in Wales was 69.8 per cent, down from 72.5 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 72.9 per cent.
• The ILO unemployment rate in Wales was 7.5 per cent of the economically active, up from 5.2 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  For the UK as a whole it was 7.6 per cent.
• The rate of economic activity amongst people of working age in Wales was 75.6 per cent, down from 76.7 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 79.1 per cent.

The claimant count rate in June 2009 for Wales was 5.6 per cent of the workforce, up 2.6 percentage points on June 2008 (UK rate 4.8 per cent).
The claimant count rate in June 2009 for West Wales and the Valleys was 4.5 per cent of the resident population of working-age.  The rate for East Wales stood at 4.0 per cent.

Other new information released this month is summarised below.

Annual Population Survey estimates for the year to December 2008 show:

• The working age employment rate in West Wales and the Valleys was 68.9 per cent.  The rate for East Wales stood at 73.8 per cent.
• The ILO unemployment rate in West Wales and the Valleys was 6.7 per cent of the economically active.  The rate for East Wales stood at 5.7 per cent.
• The rate of economic activity amongst people of working age in West Wales and the Valleys was 74.1 per cent.  The rate for East Wales stood at 78.4 per cent.
• ILO long-term unemployment (i.e. unemployed for 12 months or more) in Wales accounted for 21.2 per cent of the unemployed, below that for the UK as a whole (23.4 per cent).
• ILO youth unemployment (i.e. 16 to 24 year olds) in Wales was 17.6 per cent of the economically active, above the UK average of 15.0 per cent.

The Index of Production for the four quarters to quarter 1 2009 for Wales fell by 2.1 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. The UK index fell by 6.3 per cent over the same period.

The Index of Construction for the four quarters to quarter 1 2009 for Wales fell by 13.8 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. The UK index fell by 4.1 per cent over the same period.

The detailed quarterly Labour Force Survey datasets (external link) on StatsWales were updated to include the new labour market information on 15 July 2009.

The monthly claimant count data is now available on StatsWales, please use the links below to access the data:

StatsWales website: Claimant count by local authority and economic region, Wales

StatsWales website: Seasonally adjusted claimant count by Government Office Region

StatsWales website: Seasonally adjusted claimant count by gender, Wales, UK

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 5017
E-mail: economic.stats@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

14 August 2009