3 Labour Market

Issues and Priorities


  • The South West of England has relatively high economic activity rates, high levels of employment and self employment, and low rates of unemployment. Indeed, South West England’s unemployment rate has been consistently the lowest or lowest equal of the English Regions.
  • Following substantial improvement through the 1990s, the SW labour market has been fairly stable since about 1999, with only relatively small fluctuations in economic activity, employment and unemployment rates.  We are now in a period of economic uncertainty and analysts will be watching these figures closely for signs of any economic downturn affecting the jobs market.
  • The South West has an older than average and ageing population, although the labour market has been relatively unaffected by this to date, with high overall participation rates.  However, as the population continues to age, economic inactivity rates may begin to rise and valuable skills and expertise could be lost from the region’s labour market.
  • Some sections of society within the region are less engaged in the labour market than others. Currently 16-19 year olds and 50+ age groups are under represented in the labour force, as are female and ethnic minority workers, and those with health problems and disabilities.
  • The region has varied labour market conditions across its sub-regions. Urban areas tend to have higher unemployment and wage rates vary substantially with workers in rural areas and the south and west of the region earning less than the north.