Economic inactivity rate

Economic inactivity measures those that are not in work or actively seeking employment.  Individuals can be economically inactive for a wide range of reasons (both positive and negative) including that they are in education, have health issues or disabilities that prevent them from work, have caring responsibilities or have retired.  In the Jul 2019-Jun 2020 twelve month period (the most recent data):

• 23.2 per cent of the 16-64 population in the North East LEP area was economically inactive
• this was above the England and England excluding London rates but was the fourth lowest rate among the eight core city LEPs
• the North East rate had decreased by 2.3 percentage points when compared to the same period of 2013/14
• this is a larger percentage point decrease than nationally and the joint fourth highest decrease among the eight core city LEPs
• the latest rate is slightly lower than a year earlier, one of only four core city LEPs where this is true.

Within the North East, among local authority areas the economic inactivity rate ranged from 18.5 per cent in North Tyneside to 27.2 per cent in Newcastle upon Tyne. Among constituencies it was highest in Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency and Washington and Sunderland West constituency (31.5 and 29.7 per cent, respectively). These statistics are based on location of residence and cover a twelve-month period, almost half of which was before the economy was affected by Covid-19.