Key Economic Statistics, September 2010

The release includes latest information from a range of sources and covers a variety of time periods. This release updates the statistics previously released on 11 August 2010.

The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to July 2010 show:

• The employment rate for those aged from 16 - 64 in Wales was 67.0 per cent, down from 67.5 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 70.7 per cent.
• The unemployment rate in Wales was 8.4 per cent of the economically active, up from 8.1 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  For the UK as a whole it was 7.8 per cent.
• The rate of economic inactivity for those aged from 16 - 64 in Wales was 26.6 per cent, up from 26.4 percent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 23.2 per cent.

The claimant count rate in August 2010 for Wales was 5.0 per cent of the workforce, down 0.6 percentage points on August 2009 (UK rate 4.5 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points).

The workforce jobs data for June 2010 show:

• Workforce jobs in Wales fell by 9,000 (0.7 per cent) over the year to stand at 1.341 million.  Over the same period workforce jobs in the UK fell by 0.6 per cent.

The public sector employment data for 2010 quarter 2 show:

• Public sector employment in Wales increased by 2,000 (0.6 per cent) over the year to stand at 343,000.  Over the same period public sector employment in the UK fell by 0.3 per cent.

Please note that due to the change in female state pension age we have switched from using a working age definition (16-59/64) to a 16-64 definition for the employment rate, economic inactivity rate and economic inactivity level.

Further information

StatsWales website

Office for National Statistics website: Labour Market Statistics Regional Monthly Data

Contact

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

Next update

13 October 2010