Economic think tank Centre for Cities have been tracking city-based unemployment levels across the UK, using the latest ONS data to keep a monthly snapshot. Today, Centre for Cities published levels for October, releasing a number of graphs and tables to give businesses and the public sector a course on which to base engagement.

A deep dive into an individual city parses the following:

  • Claimant Count: percentage of working-age population claiming unemployment-related benefits, as well as comparison in Claimant Count since March and over the previous month. Youth Unemployment claims are also displayed as a percentage of all Claimant Counts.
  • Qualification level: percentage of the city that has high-skill qualifications
  • CVs posted in relation to job listings
  • Job Retention Scheme: percentage of eligible jobs supported by JRS
October unemployment levels (Source: Centre for Cities)

October unemployment levels (Source: Centre for Cities)

This analysis can be blended with the November report from ONS which also covers hours worked, redundancy claims, earnings, Universal Credit Claimant Count for the past three months to September 2020. Key results show:

  • UK employment rate estimated at 75.3%, 0.6% lower than the previous quarter. Unemployment rate at 4.8%.
  • Redundancies reached a record high of 314,000, an increase of a record 181,000 on the quarter.
  • Estimated 525,000 vacancies in the UK in August to October 2020, 278,000 fewer than the same period in 2019.

See the Unemployment Tracker for yourself at centreforcities.org