Newcomers to the top 10 employment blackspots include Caerphilly in Wales and Medway in the South East with around 15 claimants chasing each vacancy .

Current top 10 Employment Blackspots

Source: ONS NOMIS

To download full analysis   

The top 10 ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Source: ONS NOMIS

Blaenau Gwent continues to be at the top of the blackspot areas.

To download full analysis

The proportion of women working part-time that don’t want a full-time job, often because of family and caring responsibilities, has also been falling. This shows that the recent rise in part-time employment has mainly come about through necessity rather than choice.

Number of people doing part-time work because couldn’t find full-time jobs,Q4 2011 (by region and gender)

(Quarterly Labour Force Survey, October – December, 2011)

The analysis suggests there is a link between between rising under-employment and rising overall unemployment, with the North East and Northern Ireland struggling on both measures.

People living in the East of England have experienced the sharpest increase in under-employment over the last four years, with the number of men trapped in part-time jobs more than trebling to reach 58,385. The North East, Northern Ireland and London have also experienced sharp increases in involuntary part-time work. The number of women trapped in involuntary part-time work has more than doubled in Northern Ireland and London since December 2007.

Percentage increases in involuntary part-time work, Q4 2007–Q4 2011, (By region & gender)

(Quarterly Labour Force Survey, October – December, 2007 & 2011)

(To download full analysis)

While we had good news last month that overall unemployment fell so too did the number of people in full-time work. While part-time or temporary jobs may be, better than no work at all, people are having to take huge salary sacrifices, reduce their hours and trade down their skills to stay in work. This is bad news for the family finances and the UK’s overall economic performance as people are not working as much and as productively as they could do.

Creating more well-paid, skilled, full-time jobs is the only way to secure a sustainable recovery that works for everyone, as it will raise people’s incomes and help them to work at their potential again.

What can Government do to create more paid work? And how do we get better quality jobs – both more fulfilling and rewarding for individuals and better for the economy? This is one of the topics being discussed at the upcoming TUC Conference – After Austerity.

With the country facing a decade of economic stagnation we need real change if we are to secure jobs and living standards for the future. At the conference, expert speakers will share their in-depth knowledge and expertise on how to rebuild the UK economy through securing strong and sustainable growth.

To view the conference programme and to register go to www.afterausterity.org.uk

We have previously reported that West Dunbartonshire has featured regularly in the top 10 employment blackspots.

Current Top Ten Employment Blackspots

To download full analysis

The top 10 ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Blaenau Gwent has consistently been at the top of the blackspot areas since we have been reporting on youth unemployment blackspots (September 2011).

To download full analysis

The analysis looks at industries including construction, manufacturing, retail, hotels and restaurants, and the finance and business services sector. The analysis found that the types of jobs that account for over half of all youth employment – manufacturing, construction and retail, hotels and restaurants – have shed nearly a million jobs since 2007.

The number of manufacturing jobs fell by 14 per cent between the last quarter of 2007 and the last quarter of 2011, a loss of 406,000 jobs. The construction sector had the next biggest fall losing 281,000 jobs (12 per cent of all construction jobs).

The retail, hotel and restaurants industry has lost 221,000 jobs since the end of 2007, a fall of three per cent. Four in ten young workers are employed in this sector, compared to just one in six workers over the age of 25.

Finance and business services is the only sector to have expanded since 2007, gaining 98,000 jobs (up two per cent) over the last four years.

The relative health of finance and business services has helped to boost pay for workers in this industry. Wages have increased by 11.3 per cent since 2007, compared to an increase of just 0.2 per cent in construction and 6.7 per cent in retail, hotel and restaurants.

However, with RPI inflation increasing by 13.5 per cent over the same period, the wages of all workers have fallen in real terms.

With the Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasting that wages will continue to fall in real terms until mid-2013, three years on from when wages last rose, the outlook is looking tough for both job seekers and those already in work.

Workforce jobs by industrial sector, 2007–2011

Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)

 Monthly earning data by industrial sector, 2007–2011

Source: Monthly wages and salaries survey

 Number of workers by industrial sector and age group

Source: LFS

 * The longer definition of “distribution, hotels and restaurants” is “wholesale, retail, the motor trade or hotels and restaurants”, as used in earlier tables.

Since we have been reporting on employment blackspots (March 2011), West Dunbartonshire has featured regularly in the top 10 employment blackspots, the only exceptions being September, October, and December 2011.

Download full analysis 

The top 10 ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Since we have been reporting on youth unemployment blackspots (September 2011), based on the claimant count rate Blaenau Gwent has consistently been at the top of the blackspot areas.     

Download full analysis 

The report shows that despite progress, women’s employment in the private sector remains concentrated around the five ‘Cs’ – caring, catering, cashiering, cleaning and clerical work. As a result the gender pay gap for women working full time is twice as high in the private sector (18.4 %) as it is in the public sector (9.2 %). In contrast many women working in the public sector work in associate professional or professional level jobs. And although part-time women suffer a significant pay penalty in both public and private sectors this is lower in the public sector. It is also still the case that a substantial part of the female workforce is employed on a part-time basis (43% of women compared to 13% of men).[i]

Gender Pay Gap – Breakdown for median hourly earnings, excluding overtime, for public and private sectors (2011 data)

Analysis carried out by the TUC using data from the Annual Survey of Earnings 2011 (using Gross Weekly earnings ) further explores pay for women in the public and private sector. This analysis finds that:

• Almost a third of women (28 %) working full time earn less than £300 in the private sector compared to (8 %) in the public sector.
• Over half of all women (56%) earn less than £300 in the private sector compared to just over a third (35 %) in the public sector.
• Over three quarters of women working part time in the private sector (77 %) earn less than £200 compared to less than half (47%) in the public sector.
• Low paid jobs are far more prevalent in the private than public sectors, with 17 per cent of full-time workers earning less than £300 in the private sector, compared to only 6 %of public sector workers
  

To view the full analysis – download full report  

Charts 1 and 2 from the analysis highlight the proportion of full-time women and men at different earnings intervals. It is clearly evident from the charts  that women in full-time jobs are more evenly spread through different earnings levels in the public sector than in the private sector where they are more concentrated at the lower end of the income distribution.

Chart 1: Private sector distribution of gross weekly earnings for full-time employees 2011

Chart 2: Public sector distribution of gross weekly earning for full-time employees 2011

(Source – ONS)

It is not just the smaller gender pay gap that women benefit from in the public sector; the public sector has been a better source of flexible work and well paid part time work for many women as well as offering better pension provision. The public sector has been more responsive to the needs of women by offering more skilled, well paid, part time jobs.

The report shows that the impact of cuts in public sector jobs will be severe on women as they make up 65 per cent of the public sector workforce. Even if women are able to find employment in the private sector will it match the pay, pension and employment prospects of the jobs they have lost in the public sector? The analysis in the report suggests that it will not. As many women could find themselves having to take lower skilled work and a significant pay cut. This would result in a widening of the overall gender pay gap and worsening levels of female poverty. And, given the significant contribution women’s earnings have made to low and middle income households over the past four decades, it could lead to poorer life chances for the hardest hit families too.

To view the full report  - download here  

Using official UK government data, the TUC analysis has replicated the six measures of US unemployment and found that using the broadest measure of joblessness, U6 or ‘total’ unemployment in the UK is currently over 6.3 million. The highest it has been since records began in April 1993, when it was 6.1 million.

Total Unemployment compared to ILO unemployment

(Data in thousands)

While ILO unemployment (2.95 million in April 1993) was higher in the early 1990s than today, under-employment,  people working part-time because they cannot find full time jobs is higher today  at (1.3 million) than at any point since April 1993, when it stood at 802,000.

The analysis also shows that under-employment, people doing temporary or part-time jobs because they cannot find permanent or full-time work has risen to a record 1.9 million.

Total Unemployment

(Data in thousands) 

The record levels of under-employment today show that the jobs crisis is far worse than the headline figures suggests, while involuntary part-time and temporary jobs are better than no work at all in most cases, these tend to be low-paid, insecure, have little or no career prospects and so not a sustainable way to solve the UK’s labour market problems.

The TUC is calling on the government to acknowledge the scale of the jobs crisis, rather than simply repeat the ill-informed claim that there are plenty of jobs out there and blaming the unemployed. It wants ministers to take action to get vital investment into the private sector so that it starts creating jobs, stop putting hundreds of thousands of public servants on the dole and boost job schemes to get younger people back into work.

 Source: ONS

Descriptions of the six measures of US unemployment (U1-U6)
U1: Persons unemployed for 15 weeks or longer (These figures are not included in U6 unemployment).
U2: Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs. (The TUC has used redundancy figures as the nearest UK equivalent. These figures are not included in U6 unemployment.)
U3: Total unemployed (official unemployment rate)
U4: Total unemployed plus discouraged workers
U5: Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labour market. (The UK equivalent of ‘marginally attached’ are the ‘want work’ figures – those who say they would like a regular paid job, but who do not meet the internationally agreed definition of unemployment because they have not been looking for work in the last four weeks and/or they were unable to start working within two weeks.)
U6: Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labour market, plus total employed part time for economic reasons

Source: www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab15.htm
You can download a full table of U1-U6 unemployment in the UK from April 1993 to October 2011

Every month I report on the latest unemployment data, the number of people claiming JSA and the number of vacancies in each Local Authority. The last set of data showed that there are as many as 20 people chasing the one vacancy in some areas, in Lewisham there are almost thirty five dole claimants chasing each vacancy.

To download full analysis       

This is using the claimant count only; the number of people unemployed is significantly higher if we used the ILO definition of unemployment, as many unemployed people are not claiming JSA. Currently there are 2.68 million people unemployed using this definition, and there are 463,000 vacancies, and around 6 people chasing every vacancy.

If we look at the same areas pre- recession, what do we see ? Significantly lower levels of unemployment and higher number of vacancies. So what has caused the change in numbers ? Not unwillingness to apply for jobs but the deepest recession we have had since the 1930′s, which has not just affected unemployment in the UK but globally. There are one million more unemployed people than there was 4 years ago. It is time for the Government to stop blaming the unemployed for their situation and to start taking responsibility for creating jobs.

Top 10 employment blackspots:

Download full analysis       

The top 10 ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Youth unemployment continues to be the highest in Blaenau Gwent and Hartlepool.

Download full analysis for every area         

Source ONS nomis – Dec 2011 data

The number of long-term dole claimants over the Christmas period has more than doubled from 122,000 in 2007 to 279,000 today. Last Christmas, 243,000 people had been out of work for at least a year.

Scotland (+28%) and London (+24%) have had the sharpest increase in long-term dole claimants since last year. Eight of the ten local authorities with the fastest increase in long-term claimants are in Scotland.

Hounslow has experienced the sharpest increase in the UK, with the number of people in the London borough set to spend another Christmas on the dole more than doubling to over 500.

The analysis shows that rising long-term unemployment is a problem throughout the country. In the last Christmas before the recession, 29 local authorities had at least 1,000 people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for at least a year. This figure rose to 88 local authorities last year and now 105 local authorities have over 1,000 long-term dole claimants, including 14 who have at least 3,000 people who been claiming JSA for at least a year.

The number of people spending their third successive Christmas on the dole has also increased by a third on last year, with 75,000 people currently on JSA for at least two years.

The TUC is particularly concerned about rising long-term unemployment as it can permanently scar people’s career prospects and negatively affect their health.

Number of people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance for at least 12 months by region 

Fastest increases in long-term unemployment by local authority, 2010-11 

Source: nomisweb

To download full analysis click here

Top 10 employment blackspots  

Download analysis for every area

The top ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Blaenau Gwent is again the employment blackspot for 18-24 year olds.

Download full analysis for every area

TUC analysis published last month showed that youth claimant unemployment had increased in 97% of local authority areas in the UK in the last 12 months. The number of young people aged between 18 and 24 unable to find work in the UK had increased in 196 of 202 local authorities since September 2010.

The analysis shows that as unemployment rises and the number of job vacancies fall, a growing proportion of unemployed people are staying on the dole for over six months, and this is affecting low-paid workers more than others.

The number of dole claimants out of work for over six months has increased by around a third since the start of the recession, rising from 29% in April 2008 to 40% in October 2011. Currently around one in six dole claimants have now been out of work for over a year.

The risk of becoming long-term unemployed has increased most for machine operators, with the number of long-term dole claimants rising from 29% before the recession to 45% in October this year. People from elementary occupations – which includes jobs like cleaners, catering assistants and security guards – have had the second sharpest increase, with 46% of them now having been on the dole for at least six months.

Dole claimants from professional occupations have seen barely any change in the length of time they are spending out of work, with the proportion of those on the dole who have been unemployed over six months falling slightly since the recession to 29%.

Before the recession the risk of long-term unemployment did not vary greatly between occupations, with one in four (25%) unemployed managers on the dole for over six months, compared to one in three (31%) of those from elementary occupations.However, this gap has grown over the recession and lower-paid occupations are now experiencing the sharpest rise in the risk of long-term unemployment.

Out of work people from lower paid occupations such as cleaners, machine operators and sales assistants have a far greater risk of becoming long-term unemployed than those from higher-paid occupations such as managers, senior officials and professional occupations such as engineers, teachers and solicitors.

The TUC is particularly concerned about rising long-term unemployment as it can permanently scar people’s job prospects, both through long spells of unemployment and because they often have to work below their skill level.

The TUC is calling on the government to provide greater support for those out of work for six months or more as it believes the current policy of only providing help after 12 months could come too late for many.

Unemployed workers on the dole for over six months by occupation

Source: nomisweb, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2011

The figures are based on UK claimant count, and the full TUC analysis is available as an Excel spreadsheet

Top 10 employment blackspots  

Source- nomisweb.co.uk

Download our analysis for every area

The top ten employment blackspots for young people (18-24 only) based on the claimant count figures released today are:

Source- nomisweb.co.uk

Download for full analysis

TUC analysis published last week showed that youth claimant unemployment had increased in 97% of local authority areas in the UK in the last 12 months. The number of young people aged between 18 and 24 unable to find work in the UK had increased in 196 of 202 local authorities since September 2010.

The only six UK local authorities where youth unemployment has stalled in the last year are Hillingdon, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Reading and – the only authority not in the south east – Warwickshire. Everywhere else has witnessed an increase, by an average of 1.2 percentage points.

The local authority areas with the biggest rises in the number of young people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance between September 2010 and September 2011 include Hartlepool (3.5 percentage point increase), Darlington (3.2), Waltham Forest (3), Sandwell (2.9), and Doncaster, Torbay and Blackpool (all 2.7).

The analysis also reveals the extent to which youth unemployment worsened during the recession. From September 2007 to September 2011, the number of young people unable to find work at least doubled in a third of local authorities (32%).

The worse hit authorities over the last three years are Clackmannanshire (7.5 percentage point increase since September 2007), Doncaster (7.4), Hartlepool (7.1), Rotherham (6.9), Rochdale and Redcar and Cleveland (both 6.8).

Local authorities where youth unemployment has increased most over the last year (Sept 2010–Sept 2011)

Local authorities where youth unemployment has increased most since the start of the recession (Sept 2007–Sept 2011)

Source: nomisweb

The figures are based on UK claimant count, and the full TUC analysis is available as an Excel spreadsheet

This analysis also shows:

• The top 10 and bottom 10 youth unemployment rates for August 2007, 2010, 2011.
• A regional breakdown of youth unemployment in September 2011 – this has the top 5 rates by region and it also has the bottom 2 per region. For London this has the top 10 and bottom 5 rates.
• The difference between the national and youth unemployment rates in September 2011.
• The male and female top 10 and bottom youth unemployment rates for September 2011.

(And please note that the analysis does not use data for the City of London, the Isles of Scilly, the Shetland Isles and the Orkney Isles as the small size of these areas limits the scope of meaningful analysis. Northern Ireland has also been excluded.)

Our previous analysis in May which examined the unemployment data from March 2005 to March 2011 found strong evidence of persistent poor local job prospects, with London being one of the worst hit areas of the country. Four London Boroughs including Hackney, Haringey, and Lewisham have been in the top ten employment blackspots in Britain for five of the last seven years. The figures today show that four London boroughs are still in the top 10, Harringay, Hackney, Lewisham and Redbridge.

Source- nomisweb.co.uk

Download our analysis for every area

Sales and elementary service and admin jobs are responsible for 41% of the claimant count rise since 2008, even though they represent less than 20% of the workforce. The two job categories have the lowest pay rates of all occupations at just £6.55 an hour.

The number of dole claimants who have previously worked in sales jobs has almost trebled since the start of the recession in April 2008 to reach 324,625 in August 2011 (the most recent available figures). The number of sales vacancies has also fallen by six per cent over the same period.

Elementary service and admin occupations – such as labourers, bar and catering staff and cleaners – have had the second sharpest rise in claimant count unemployment, almost doubling from 86,250 in April 2008 to reach 168,015 in August 2011.

More than one in ten women work in sales and customer service roles where they outnumber men by two to one, so any further losses in this sector will particular hit women’s job prospects in the private sector, at the same time as public sector job losses are disproportionately hitting women.

To download the full analysis  

We have been reporting on employment black spots in Britain over the last few months, where we have found strong evidence of persistent poor local job prospects. The unemployment data released today shows that Inverclyde is now the hardest place in Britain to find a job, where there are over thirty five dole claimants chasing every vacancy. Inverclyde has appeared frequently in the top 10 blackspots, and back in May 2011 Invercylde had been the hardest place to find a job when almost thirty two dole claimants were chasing every vacancy.

Download our analysis for every area

Source- nomisweb.co.uk

The research ranks the City of London and each of the 32 London boroughs by the ratio of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants to every Jobcentre Plus job vacancy. In July 2011, across the capital the average ratio was nine job seekers for every available job, compared to a GB-wide figure of six per vacancy.

Boroughs in the Eastern half of the capital, including Waltham Forest (25 job seekers for every vacancy), Hackney (22), Lewisham (21) and Redbridge (15), had some of the highest ratio of JSA claimants to job vacancies.

As the UK moves towards a new North-South divide, London seems to be witnessing an East-West divide. The City and West London are currently faring much better than the East, with Kingston upon Thames (3), Westminster (3), Richmond upon Thames (4) and Hillingdon (4), the best London boroughs in which to secure employment as they have the lowest ratios of job seekers per available job.

The research has analysed how these figures have changed since last year (July 2010). Over the past year, around 50% (16 out of 33) of London boroughs have experienced an increase in the number of job seekers per vacancy. The Eastern half of London has borne the brunt of this increase with some of the highest rises seen in Waltham Forest (14.5%) and Barking and Dagenham (4.6%).

Since July 2010 the unemployment rate has also increased in 25 out the 33 London boroughs, five are unchanged and only three London boroughs have seen their unemployment rate drop, showing that economic recovery in London is still some way off.

Our previous analysis found strong evidence of persistent poor local job prospects, with London being one of the worst hit areas of the country. Four London Boroughs including Hackney, Haringey, and Lewisham have been in the top ten employment blackspots in Britain for five of the last seven years.

Top five London employment blackspots, July 2011

Best five London boroughs to find work, July 2011

Source: nomisweb

To download full analysis

Employment levels across the UK in April 2011 (the latest available figures) are down 0.5% on December 2007 although there is considerable variation across the country. Employment is up 122,000 (+3.3%) in London but down 70,000 (-2.8%) in the West Midlands.

The number of people in work is higher than pre-recession levels in London, the East of England and the East Midlands, while the North East, West Midlands and the South West have the widest jobs gaps.

The analysis shows that there were 41,000 more women working in April 2011 than December 2007, and there are 199,000 fewer men in employment.

But in some regions women are still facing a jobs gap -  the gap for women is worst in the North East where employment is down 5.1% (28,000 jobs) on pre-recession levels – while female employment in London is up 4.3% (70,000 jobs).

The largest jobs gap for men is in Yorkshire and Humber at 4.3% (57,000 jobs) while London has again improved the most with 52,000 more jobs across the capital.

While the national jobs gap has closed by 50,000 since the start of the year, the number of women in work has not increased at all. Female employment has risen in just three regions in England in 2011 – East Midlands, East of England and London. This suggests that improvements in the female ‘jobs gap’ may not be sustained in the year ahead.

The UK ‘jobs gap’ would be almost twice as large were it not for the employment growth in London. The surge in employment across the capital is not evenly spread however, with the number of dole claimants outnumbering job vacancies by over 20 to 1 in Haringey, Lewisham, Waltham Forest and Hackney.

And as the size of the working age population has increased since the start of the recession the jobs gap only tells part of the story – in all areas of the UK employment rates remain below their pre-recession levels.

Summary of our analysis  

Jobs gap

 Male jobs gap

 Female jobs gap 

Source: Office for National Statistics 

To download our full analysis as an Excel worksheet

The analysis found that West Dunbartonshire and East Ayrshire had overtaken London boroughs to become the worst employment blackspots in the country however there were still five London boroughs in the top ten.

The unemployment data released today shows that while West Dunbartonshire and East Ayrshire still rank highly in the top 10 employment blackspots, Haringey is now the hardest place in Britain to find a job, where there are almost forty dole claimants chasing every vacancy. We also find that five London boroughs are still in the top 10.

Source: nomisweb.co.uk