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14 areas in South East England have employment rate below UK average

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There are 14 local authority areas in the South East that have an employment rate below the UK average of 74% according to a new study by GMB Southern of official employment data from the Office for National Statistics.

These are Canterbury, Gravesham, Hastings, Elmbridge, Sevenoaks, Southampton, Portsmouth, Thanet, Guildford, Gosport, Maidstone, Rother, Isle of Wight and Arun.

In Hart, 87.1% of the population aged 16-64 are in employment. This is the highest in the region. The next 5 are Crawley with 86.6%, Woking with 85.5%, Basingstoke and Deane with 84%, Wycombe with 84% and Vale of White Horse with 83.8%.

By contrast the lowest are Canterbury with only 65.2% of those aged 16-64 in employment, Gravesham with 65.7%, Hastings with 66.6%, Sevenoaks with 70.5% and Elmbridge with 70.5%.

The South East employment rate is 77.7% and the overall UK figure is 74%. The region is the highest employment rate in the UK.

The table below shows Employment numbers and rates for those aged 16-64 by Local authority and unitary authority areas, ranked by employment rate compiled by GMB Southern region, see notes to editors for sources and definitions.

Annual Population Survey – April 2016-March 2017
    Employment rate – aged 16-64  
    number %
  England 25,725,800 74.4
  Great Britain 29,589,700 74.2
  United Kingdom 30,395,200 74
       
  South East 4,294,900 77.7
rank      
1 Hart 48,600 87.1
2 Crawley 62,700 86.6
3 Woking 51,700 85.5
4 Basingstoke and Deane 91,400 84
5 Wycombe 91,800 84
6 Vale of White Horse 63,100 83.8
7 Waverley 58,300 83.5
8 West Oxfordshire 54,200 83.4
9 Epsom and Ewell 39,800 83.2
10 Runnymede 47,500 83.2
11 Eastleigh 66,400 82.2
12 Horsham 64,800 82.1
13 New Forest 83,200 82.1
14 Bracknell Forest 62,600 82
15 Lewes 47,600 82
16 Worthing 52,800 81.9
17 Mole Valley 41,800 81.8
18 Rushmoor 52,300 81.7
19 West Berkshire 77,800 81.6
20 Spelthorne 50,400 81.5
21 Fareham 56,300 81.4
22 Reigate and Banstead 71,500 81.4
23 Dartford 56,000 81.2
24 Tunbridge Wells 57,300 81.2
25 Chiltern 44,000 81
26 Ashford 60,700 80.8
27 Tandridge 44,200 80.8
28 Aylesbury Vale 95,000 80.5
29 Windsor and Maidenhead 72,400 80.3
30 Test Valley 58,600 80.2
31 Wokingham 78,300 80.1
32 South Bucks 32,100 79.5
33 Shepway 49,800 79.4
34 East Hampshire 55,000 79.3
35 Oxford 89,500 79.3
36 Chichester 51,400 79.2
37 Wealden 69,600 78
38 Mid Sussex 68,200 77.1
39 Surrey Heath 42,200 77
40 Dover 51,800 76.9
41 Cherwell 70,600 76.8
42 Eastbourne 44,800 76.2
43 Milton Keynes 128,800 76.2
44 Reading 84,500 76.2
45 South Oxfordshire 62,500 76.1
46 Medway 134,200 75.8
47 Winchester 56,300 75.8
48 Havant 54,800 75.6
49 Adur 29,100 75.4
50 Swale 64,500 75
51 Tonbridge and Malling 58,900 74.7
52 Slough 71,800 74.3
53 Brighton and Hove 149,100 74.1
54 Arun 64,000 73.7
55 Isle of Wight 56,100 73.5
56 Rother 36,600 73.4
57 Gosport 38,600 73.2
58 Maidstone 73,200 73.2
59 Guildford 70,200 72.7
60 Portsmouth 101,600 71.9
61 Thanet 58,600 71.9
62 Southampton 121,100 71.4
63 Elmbridge 55,700 70.5
64 Sevenoaks 49,400 70.5
65 Hastings 37,700 66.6
66 Gravesham 45,000 65.7
67 Canterbury 64,600 65.2

Paul Maloney, GMB Southern regional secretary, said, “Several areas of the South East’s economy need to be thoroughly regenerated to bring to the areas new well paid jobs.

“This regeneration should be part of a much needed wider regeneration in the regions of the UK. This will not happen by accident and requires a partnership between local and national government and between public and private sectors. This should be part of a new regional policy that should be given priority in the post Brexit economy.

“The people of the less prosperous areas have to demand that all elected political office holders in the area campaign for action from national and local government to lead the regeneration of the area to end the days of these areas being at the bottom of the UK employment rate league.

“GMB call on all political parties to lead the campaign for the gap between the areas with low employment rates and other parts of the country, including the parts of London with high employment rates, to be closed.

“GMB will also seek to end the two tier workforce in the public sector so that contractor’s workers get the same terms and conditions as directly employed staff.

“Action is also needed to increase the bargaining power of lower paid workers. Employers threats and actions, like the recent sacking of shop stewards at Cineworld in London in the course of strike action on pay, is curtailing the rights of workers to join trades unions and to seek collective bargaining agreement to resist and reverse this transfer of income from labour to capital.

“This hostility is widespread and enjoys effective impunity. It is a major cause of growing inequality in the UK.

“So employers hostility is not only abusing the human rights of workers to join trades unions to hold down pay in favour of profits but it now also threatens consumer spending and increases the risk of a further recession. Dealing with this lack of bargaining power has to be part of the regeneration of the low employment rates in the less prosperous areas of the UK.

“When Britain leaves the EU a new regional policy is absolutely essential to lift economic growth and prosperity in every part of the region.”

Contact: Paul Maloney 07901343839; Michelle Gordon on 07866 369259 or GMB Southern Office on 020 8397 8881

Notes to editors

1) Source: Annual Population Survey from the Office for National Statistics, April 2016-March 2017. The Annual Population Survey is residence based and a continuous household survey covering the UK.

The data is for the employment numbers and rate of those aged 16-64.

Employment measures the number of people in work consisting of employees, self-employed people, unpaid family workers (those working in a family business not receiving a formal wage but benefit from profits of that business) and people on government-supported training and employment programmes (only those engaging in any form of work, work experience or work-related training who are not included in the employees or self-employed series).

The APS is the source recommended for employment-related statistics, such as estimates of the number of people in employment or unemployed.