Economic Activity Rates
3.17 The level of economic activity measures the size of the potential labour force. Economic activity rates are a useful indicator of labour market opportunities as lower economic activity rates can result from increased numbers of discouraged workers. Economic activity is broadly determined by the number of people in employment or International Labour Organisation (ILO) unemployed as a proportion of the overall working age or adult population (aged 16+). It can be affected by a number of social and economic factors, including age, gender, race and health. Some people may choose to withdraw from the labour market for a range of different reasons, including early retirement, full time education, family commitments, discouragement from participation, and long term illness or disability. In this analysis, economic activity rates are expressed as a percentage of the working age population. An estimated 2,530,000 people of working age were economically active in the last quarter of 2007, an increase of 43,000 over the same period in 2006.
3.18 South West England has relatively high rates of economic activity (82.5% of the working age population in 2007 Q4 compared with the English average 79.2%). The SW economic activity rate was ranked second of the nine English regions behind the South East, up one place from early 2006. Prior to that the ranking had remained unaltered since 2001. Although the total number of economically active people has grown, the economic activity rate has remained fairly high and stable over the last five years, well above the average, though at rates marginally lower than in the earlier part of this decade (often above 82%).
3.19 All age groups in the region and both genders have higher rates of economic activity than the England average. This suggests that the region provides a reasonable level of labour market opportunities for its residents. The relative performance (compared to England average) in two separate groups - age 16-17 and females - was particularly strong. The female economic activity rate is higher in South West England than in any other English region. These higher rates may reflect more flexible labour market conditions, for example, through providing SW residents with greater opportunities to work part time.
3.20 Sub-regional Economic Activity - The picture of economic activity varies across the sub-regions of South West England. The economic activity rates ranged from 86.7% in South Gloucestershire to 76.7% in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Broadly, the lower rates were recorded in the southern and western regions and higher levels in the northern regions. The City of Bristol, which suffers from relatively low levels of economic activity, bucks this trend.
3.21 Male activity rates tend to be higher than female activity rates. The difference between the gender economic activity rates, however, also varies across the sub-regions. The greatest difference in 2006/07 – a 13.1% gap - was in Poole, where the male rate was well above the SW average (87.4% vs. 84.5%) and the female rate well below (74.3% vs. 77.2%). The smallest gap was Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – while female activity rates were similar to the regional average, the male activity rates were the lowest in the region. The confidence intervals are, however, large and these findings need to be used with caution. Throughout the region, the differences in rates can be attributed to a number of social and economic factors including age profiles, employment structure and prevailing labour market conditions.
