labour market statistics reaction

North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Senior Economist Victoria Sutherland gave her reaction to today’s positive regional labour market statistics.

“Today’s data is encouraging. It shows the number of people in employment in the North East has increased by 10,000 on the quarter and 25,000 on the year. There have also been declines in unemployment, with 6,000 fewer individuals unemployed than last quarter and 8,000 fewer unemployed than this time last year.

“The improvements in the employment rate and the unemployment rate have been better in the North East than across England as a whole over the quarter and the year.

“In addition, there are only two regions (the East of England and the South East), that have had a larger improvement in their employment rate than the North East over the last quarter.

“Interestingly, over the last year, most of the growth in employment has been among women, with18,000 more women in work than a year ago. However, over the last quarter, the majority of the increase has been amongst men.

“It remains an uncertain economic environment so it is good to see employment is growing and unemployment declining. Given concerns over other economic data recently, we welcome these positive trends for the North East.

“We would like to see next week’s Budget and the Government’s Industrial Strategy bring forward plans that will support the North East to continue to grow its economy and create good quality employment opportunities for its residents.”