The South West has the second highest employment rate in the country this month, with 77.4% of working-aged people in employment. The latest findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revealed that while the employment rate has gone up by 0.7% in the South West, it has gone down in the UK as a whole.

North Somerset Council’s Mark Canniford, who is the executive member for Spatial Planning, Placemaking and Economy, thinks this is just the beginning: “I don’t think this is the end of the opportunity that’s coming. There’s no doubt that for North Somerset, people are looking at this area to invest.

“We got a really good and dynamic workforce because of the nature of the housing here; there’s lots of new homes, there’s lots of new builds. Because of that, we have a really good workforce.”

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Curiously, unemployment also rose in the South West, with 3.3% of people over 16 being unemployed. This is an change of 0.5% from October-December 2023.

Despite the South West’s success, the country-wide employment rate has gone down by 0.6%. The employment rate in the UK is also lower than the employment rate in the South West, with 74.5% of working age people in employment.

The South East had the highest employment rate (78.6%) and the North East had the lowest (69.1%). The East Midlands enjoyed the biggest increase, with employment spiking by 0.9%.

The ONS also tracked economic inactivity, which refers to “people not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next two weeks”. Economic inactivity is down in the South West by -1.2%.

However, almost one in five working-aged people in the South West are economically inactive (19.8.%). You can see the ONS’ findings in full on their website.