Key Economic Statistics – January 2007

The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to November 2006 show:

• The employment rate of people of working age in Wales stood at 71.8%, up from 71.7% in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average stood at 74.6%.
• The ILO unemployment rate in Wales stood at 5.2% of the economically active, up from 4.8% in the same period a year earlier.  For the UK as a whole it stood at 5.5%.
• The rate of economic activity amongst people of working age in Wales was 75.8%, up from 75.4% in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average stood at 79.0%.

The Short Term Employment Surveys for the quarter ending September 2006 estimate that:

• Employee jobs in Wales rose by 30,000 (2.6%) over the year to stand at 1.198 million.  UK employee jobs rose by 0.7% over the same period to stand at 26.8 million.
• Employee jobs in manufacturing in Wales fell by 7,000 (3.9%) over the year. Over the same period there were increases in construction industries (up 18,000 or 36.3%), service industries (up 9,000 or 1.9%) and 'other industries', which include the health and education sectors, (up 8,000 or 1.8%).

The claimant count rate in December 2006 for Wales stood at 3.1% of the workforce, down 0.1 percentage points over December 2005 (UK rate 3.0%).

The claimant count rate in December 2006 for West Wales and the Valleys was 2.5% of the resident population of working-age.  The rate for East Wales stood at 2.1%.

The Index of Production for the year to quarter 3, 2006 for Wales fell by 0.9% compared with the same period a year ago. The UK index also fell by 0.9% over the same period.

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

Further Information:
The detailed quarterly Labour Force Survey datasets on StatsWales will be updated to include the new labour market information by 12 noon on 19 January 2007.

Next Update: 
16 February 2007