Self-Employment In UK In 2014

In 2014 there were 4.6m self-employed people in the UK accounting for 15% of people in work. It is highest percentage it has been at any point in the last 40 years. There were also 356,000 employees who had a second job in which they were self-employed.

The rise in total employment since 2008 has been among the self-employed. It is largely due to fewer people leaving self-employment than in the past. Self-employed people tend to be older than employees. Self-employment among the over 65s has more than doubled in the past 5 years to reach nearly half a million.

Average median income from self-employment has fallen by 22% since 2008-9. In 2012-13 average median income from self-employment was £207 according to the Family Resource Survey. It should be noted that household surveys tend to underestimate income from self-employment. Income figures also include individuals who made a loss whereas employed people do not get paid a negative figure. Self-employed people do not get the same benefits as employed people in terms of sick pay, paid leave or maternity pay.

London had the highest concentration of self-employed people at 17.3% followed by the south west on 16.6% and the south east at 15.8%. The north east had the lowest concentration at 10.8%.

Across Europe the country with the highest rate of self-employment was Greece with 32%. Italy came next with 23.6% and Romania with 20.4%. The high figure for Greece is partly because of the high proportion of people self-employed in agriculture and the effects of tourism. The lowest rates were in Luxembourg with 8.1%, Denmark with 9% and Estonia with 9.4%. The EU average self-employment rate was 15.2% very close to the 15% in the UK. The UK has seen the third largest percentage rise in self-employment since 2009 at 19% behind Slovenia at 23% and Estonia at 20%. These countries are small in comparison and the average percentage change in the EU as a whole was -0.1%.

North East/South East Divide In Labour Market

The employment rate in Great Britain was highest in the South East at 76.4% and lowest in the North East at 69.5%. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East at 9.8% and lowest in the South East at 4.8%. The North East showed the greatest increase in the employment rate at 1.3% then East Midlands at 1.2%. All regions, with the exception of Wales, showed a general increase in employment rates. The only region to show an increase in the unemployment rate was the North East which increased by 0.3% to 9.8%, Yorkshire and Humberside are next with 8.2%.

The inactivity rate was highest in Wales at 24.8% and lowest in the South East and the East of England at 19.7%. The claimant count was highest in the North East at 5.4% and lowest in the South East at 1.8%.

Unemployment Continues To Fall

The number of people in employment continues to increase according to latest estimates from the ONS. Unemployment continues to fall.

Employment increased by 105,000 from August to October 2013 and increased by 459,000 over the year to 30.19m for November 2013 to January 2014. The August to October increase was due to an increase in self-employed people; the number of employed people actually fell over the same period. The employment rate for November to January was 72.3% up from 72% in August to October and 71.5% from the previous year. The employment rate was highest in the South East at 76.4% and lowest in the North East at 68.2%

Unemployment fell by 63,000 from August to October and by 191,000 over the year. The total number of the unemployed was 2.33m for November to January 2014. The unemployment rate was 7.2% for November to January from 7.4% in August to October 2013 and 7.8% from last year. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East at 9.5% and lowest in the South East at 5.2%.

The number of employees fell by 60,000 to 25.49m. The number of self-employed people increased by 211,000 to 4.46m. Unpaid family workers decreased in number by 7,000 to 108,000. The number of people on government supported training and employment programmes classified as employed decreased by 38,000 to 132,000.

There were 32.35m workforce jobs ie. jobs filled in the economy, in September 2013 an increase of 216,000 from June and 598,000 on the year. The largest increase in jobs was in professional, scientific and technical activities up 137,000 to 2.62m.

In January 2014, regular pay was 1.3% up over the year from November to January to £451/week and total pay was up 1.4% to £479/week.

East Of England Lowest Unemployment Rate

The regional labour market statistics from the ONS show that the unemployment rate was highest in the North East (10.2%) and lowest in the East of England (5.8%). The employment rate was highest in the South East (76.2%) and lowest in the North East (67.3%). Inactivity was at its highest in the North West (25.2%) and lowest in the South East (18.9%). The North East had the highest rate of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance at 6.3% followed by Yorkshire and The Humber (5.2%) and the West Midlands (4.9%). The lowest rate was in the South East at 2.3%. then the South West at 2.5% and the East of England at 3.1%.

At local authority level South Northamptonshire had the highest employment rate at 88.9% then Watford (86.1%) and Brentwood (85.8%). The lowest rates were Middlesbrough at 57% followed by Birmingham (57.5%) and Nottingham (57.8%). The highest unemployment rate were in Birmingham (16.5%), Blaenau Gwent (15.7%) and Middlesbrough (15.4%). The lowest unemployment rates were in South Lakeland (2.7%) and Eden (2.8%).

Fatalities In The Workplace

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fatalities in the workplace provisional statistics for 2012-13 say that the number of workers fatally injured at work fell in the year 2012-13 to 148. The figure of 148 is 18% lower than the average for the last five years and gives a fatal injury ratio of 0.5 deaths per 100,000 workers, down from the 5-year average of 0.6 per 100,000. The summary also tells us that 113 members of the public were also fatally injured in accidents related to work. The figure excludes 310 related to railways (including suicide and trespass).

The main industry sectors in terms of fatalities breakdown as follows: agriculture 29; mining and quarrying 2; manufacturing 20; gas, electricity and water 12; construction 39 and services 46. When applying a ration of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers the statistics are as follows: agriculture 8.8; manufacturing 0.7; gas electricity and water 8.2; construction 1.9; and services 0.2, and all industries 0.5.

When fatal injuries suffered by members of the public are included the total figure for all industries rises to 571. There were 7 fatalities among members of the public in agriculture, 1 in manufacturing 4 in gas, electricity and water, 3 of which were in waste and recycling, 5 in construction and 406 in services.

Regional comparison of number and rate of fatal injuries of the 148 shows that the North East recorded 2 fatalities in 2012-13 and a 5 year average of 6. The South East reported 22 fatalities and a 5 year average of 16. Scotland also reported a total of 22 and a 5 year average of 22. It should be noted that there are strong regional differences in industry and occupation variables.

Total Income From Farming Up Across The Country

The second estimate of agriculture in the English regions from Defra suggests that total income from all farming increased significantly in all NUTS1 regions in 2011. The North East had the largest increase with 38% and the East Midlands had the next largest increase with 33% on 2010. The smallest increases were in the North West and the West Midlands with a 20% increase in each.

Total income from farming has increased in all NUTS1 regions, in the medium term, between 2005 and 2011. The South East has seen increases of 364 to 464 and the North East 191 to 291. The smallest increases were in the East of England (224%) and the West Midlands (225%).

The relative importance of agriculture to each region can be seen in its share of regional gross value added (GVA) and the regional workforce. The greatest contribution to GVA in 2011 was made in the South West with 1.3% and the least in the South East with 0.19%. In England as a whole agriculture contributed 0.64% to GVA.

Agriculture made its greatest contribution to the regional workforce in the South West with 2.22% and the least in the South East with 0.5%. The industry contributed 1.1% to the workforce in England as a whole.

Business Start-Ups Up In 2011

The number of business start-ups increased by 11.2% between 2010 and 2011 according to a recent statistical bulletin on business demography from the ONS. The increase of 26,000 brought the total number of business births to 261,000. The number of businesses that ceased trading fell by 20,000 to 230,000 or 7.9% during the same period.

Regionally, the highest number of start-ups was seen in London with a start-up rate of 14.6% or 61,000. The North East with 11.2% and the North West with 11.1% also figured among the regions at the top of the table. The highest rate for businesses ceasing to trade was in the North West with 10.7% or 25,000, then London with 10.4%.

The information and communication category saw the highest rate of increase in start-ups with an increase of 14.8% followed by professional, scientific and technical with 14.3% and business administration and support services with 14.1%. Business administration and support services also saw the biggest numbers cease trading with a rate of 11.9% follwed by finance and insurance at 11.5%. The highest numbers were in professional, scientific and technical with 39,000, construction at 35,000 and business administration and support services with 25,000.

The UK 5-year survival rate for businesses starting in 2006 to 2011 was 45%. The highest 5-year survival rate was seen in N.Ireland with 50.5%, the lowest was in London with 41.8%. The industry group with the highest survival rate was health with 60% and education with 52.8%. Hotels and catering was lowest with 35.7% lasting 5 years.

Slight Fall In Unemployment

The unemployment rate for June to August was 7.9% down 0.2% compared with March to May 2012. There were 2.53m unemployed down 50,000 on March to May. The employment rate for June to August was 71.3% up 0.5% on March to May with 29.59m people in work, up 212,000 on March to May and 510,000 on last year. The number of people in full-time work increased by 88,000 between March/May and June/August and part-time work by 125,000 but between June/August 2007 and June/August 2012 the number of people in full-time employment has fallen by 355,000 and the number of people in part-time employment has increased by 724,000. The number of unemployed people fell by 50,000 between March/May and June/August 2012 but increased by 883,000 between June/August 2007 and June/August 2012. The inactivity rate was down. There were 9.04m (22.5%) economically inactive people in June to August, down 138,000 on March to May and 314,000 on last year. There were 476,000 job vacancies for July to September 2012, up 3,000. There were 1.8 vacancies per 100 employee jobs. The largest increase in jobs between March and June 2012 was in the professional, scientific and technical sector with an increase of 87,000. The largest fall in jobs was recorded in the human health and social work sector with a decrease of 60,000 jobs. There pay rises in the June to August period. Total pay increased by 1.7% and regular pay increased by 2% on last year. Average total pay in August was £473/week and average regular pay was £444/week. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East with 9.9%. It was lowest in the South West with 5.8%. The largest decreases in the unemployment rate were in the North West with 1.1% and the North East with 0.9%. The highest employment rate was in the East of England with 74.6% followed by the South West (74.6%) and the South East (74.4%) and lowest in the North East with 67.9%. The inactivity rate was also highest in the North East with 24.6% and it was lowest in the East of England with 19.9%. The North East also had the highest Claimant Count with 7.7%. The lowest Claimant Count was in the South East with 3%.

Farm Land Prices At All Time High

Prices for farm land reached all time highs in the first half of 2011 due to strong demand but the availability of land is slowing down the pace of growth according to the farm land survey results from the RICS. The demand is mainly due to commercial farmers being keen to expand production. Residential farmers demand didn't change much over the same period.

The 'transaction' based measure increased by 6% to £7,479/acre and the 'opinion' based measure increased by 5% to £6,115/acre. The growth rate has slowed down since H2 2010 but both measures are at all time highs.

Surveyors are suggesting that the farm land market is experiencing the same sort of subdued activity seen in the broader housing market. Commercial farmers however want to capitalise on higher commodity prices and therefore expand production.

Bare farmland prices increased in most regions but the strongest price increases were in the North East where prices were up by 14% and the East Midlands were they were up 10%. At the end of 2011 the most expensive land was in the North West where prices reached £6,938/acre, the cheapest was Scotland at £3,813/acre.

Business Survey Estimates Fall In Number Of Jobs

The Business Register and Employment Survey estimates that for September 2010 there were 26.8m employees, down 134,000 on 2009. Tha largest fall among the countries of the UK was in Scotland at 73,000.

The region with the most employees was London with 4.1m (15.3% of UK employees) next came the South East with 3.7m (13.8%). London also had the highest proportion of full-time employees at 74.1%. Other regions had less than 70%. The regions with the lowest number of employees were Northern Ireland with 705,000 (2.6%) and the North East with 999,000 (3.7%) with over a third part-time.

In the UK as a whole, there were 18.1m full-time and 8.7m part-time employees. The health sector continued to have the largest number of employees with 3.6m. The industry with the lowest number of employees was agriculture, forestry and fishing with 214,000 (0.8%). Construction employment decreased the most down 118,000 employees. Mining, quarrying and utilities had the largest proportion of full-time workers at 93.3%. The retail sector had the largest proportion of part-time workers at 57.2%. Business administration and support services grew by 62,000.

An Increase In The Number Of UK Businesses

The estimated number of private sector business in the UK at the start of 2010 increased by 48,000 to 4.5m according to statistics from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. They employed an estimated 22.5m people and had a combined annual turnover of £3,200bn. SMEs accounted for 99.9% of all enterprises, 59.1% of private sector employment and 48.6% of turnover. Two thirds, 64.2%, of private sector businesses were sole proprietorships, 27.6% were companies and 8.2% were partnerships.

The largest sector in terms of numbers of enterprises was construction with 899,000 businesses, professional, scientific and technical came next with 602,000. There were 146,000 enterprises in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 498,000 in wholesale, retail trade, repair and 291,000 in human health and social work activities.

The South East had the most private sector enterprises with 732,000, followed by London with 706,000. The East of England came third with 474,000. The North East had the least number of enterprises with 122,000. Next bottom was the East Midlands with 306,000. Scotland had 288,000, Wales 192,000 and N. Ireland 121,000.

Decrease In Trade Union Membership In 2010

Trade union membership fell slightly in 2010 compared with 2009. Membership density fell 0.8% to 26.6% and membership fell by 179,000 or 2.7% to 6.5m. During this time employment actually increased by almost 0.5% between 2009 and 2010. Density in the private sector fell by 0.9% and by 0.3% in the public sector acording to statistics from the Labout Force Survey and published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the ONS.

The professional occupations reported the largest percentage of union density with 43.7%. Sales occupations were lowest with 12.9%. Females are now more likely to be union members than males whether by age, public sector, workplace size, job or other individual characteristics.

Geographically, density rose in Scotland by 0.5% to 32.3% but the other nations recorded falls of 0.9% in England and Wales and 4.2% in N.Ireland. The trend over the last 10 years shows that trade union density has fallen by about 3% in England, Scotland and N.Ireland and by about 5% in Wales. The North East recorded the largest fall in trade union density of 7.4% over the last 10 years. The East of England recorded the smallest fall of 1%. The last 10 years has also seen an increase in union density in the professional and administrative services, wholesale, retail trade and motor repair sectors but fell in the other sectors. Water supply, electricity and gas recorded the biggest falls of over 15% each.

Trade union presence reached 46.1% in 2010, a fall of 0.5% on 2009 and 2.8% over the last 10 years (2010). Collective agreements affected the pay and conditions of over 30% of employees from 36.4% in 2000. They covered 16.8% of private sector employees and 64.5% of public sector employees. The public sector accounted for 62.4% of union members, professional, associated professional and technical occupations accounted for 45.5% of all trade union members.

Small Increase In Green Belt

In March 2011 the area of designated Green Belt in England was 1,639,540 hectares or 13% of the land area of England. London and the wider South East account for over half a million hectares (554,670 ha.) and then the West Midlands with over a quarter of a million hectares(269,380 ha.). The regions with the smallest area of Green Belt were East Anglia (26,030 ha) and the North East (72,990 ha.). Actual boundary changes that result in increases or decreases are rare. The changes that made a difference this time were increases in Slough (30 ha.) and the Vale of the White Horse (less than 5 ha.). A decrease was recorded in Enfield (30 ha.)

GVA Fall In All Regions 2009

Gross Value Added (GVA) GVA and GVA per head fell in all regions of the UK in 2009 due to the impact of the recession. There was still a wide variation in the extent of the effect. The East of England had the biggest fall. Scotland had the smallest decline. London had the highest share of GVA in the UK with 21.5% and the South East was next with 14.3%. The North East had the lowest share in England with 3.3%. England had 85.8% of GVA and N. Ireland 2.3% (of the 12 NUTS1 Levels).

At the level of the 37 NUTS2 sub-regions, the top five included Inner London and North East Scotland the bottom five included West Wales and the Valleys, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Lincolnshire and Tees Valley and Durham. London had the biggest share of GVA per head with £60,686 the lowest was West Wales and the Valleys with £12,860. GVA per head increased in all NUTS2 sub-regions in 2008.

Breaking the statistics down to the 133 NUTS3 local areas level the top area was Inner London West the bottom area the Isle of Anglesey. The City of Edinburgh was second highest and then Inner London East.

Health And Education Businesses Surviving Well

Business demographics for 2009 show that there were 236,000 business births, a rate of 10.1% and 279,000 business deaths, a rate of 11.9%. There were 2.3m active businesses in the UK during 2009, up 16,000 on 2008. The highest birth rate was in business administration and support services with 13.9%, the lowest was production with 7.3%. The highest death rate was also in business administration and support services with 14.8% and the lowest was in health with 7.2%. The median birth rate was property with 9.1% and death rate professional, scientific and technical with 11.2%. London had both the highest birth and death rates with 12.6% and 13.7% respectively. Outside of London, the highest birth rate was in the North East with 10.4% and the highest death rate was in the North West with 12.8%. The five year survival rate from 2004 was 46.8%. N.Ireland had the highest five year survival rate with 52.9% the lowest was London with 41.9%. Health had a five year survival rate of 58.9% and education 58.1%. Hotels and catering was lowest with a 35.2% five year survival rate.

House Prices Up 10.1% On Last Year

The House Price Index (HPI) from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for April 2010 went up by 10.1% between April 2009 and April 2010 and 0.4% on March. The average house price was £207,516 in April 2010 and the all dwellings index was 174.4.

Annual average house prices in England went up 10.9%, in Scotland 2.2% and in Wales 11.3% but N.Ireland house prices fell by 8.9%. First time buyers paid 12.2% more than a year ago. Average prices for former owner/occupiers were 9.3% higher. New properties were 7.6% more than last year and pre-owned houses were up 10.3%.

House prices rose in all regions of the UK except Yorkshire and Humber where prices fell 0.5%. East Midlands saw the biggest increase with a rise in prices of 2.7%. Over the year to April all regions have seen an increase in house prices. The largest increases were in London where there were price rises of 16.8%.

The average price for a house in England in April was £214,863, in Scotland £162,392, in Wales £151,079 and in N.Ireland £163,201. The English region with the highest average house price was London. The North East was the lowest with £139,595. The regions with an average house price above the national average were the East of England, London, the South East and the South West.

Decrease In Regional Trade Q3 2009

The value of UK exports for the year to September 2009 was down £22,183 or 9% to £223,800m compared to the year to September last year. The value of exports from England, Wales and N.Ireland fell by 8.4%, 8.3% and 8.4% respectively. Only Scotland saw an increase, of 3.4%, in Q3 2009. Within England the South East had the largest total value of exports with £37,849m and the smallest total was in the North East with exports of £9,423m. The number of UK exporters fell by 5.5% to 48,454. The largest decrease was in London with 7.5% to 8,154. No regions reported an increase in the number of exporters.

Imports also decreased for the year to September by £33,450m to £306,791m, or 9.8%. Imports fell in England, Wales and N.Ireland by 10.3%, 7.2% and 1.9% respectively and again only Scotland saw an increase, of 5.1%, in Q3 2009. The South East had the largest value of imports with £66,320m and the smallest total was in the North East with imports of £7,073m. The North East also saw the biggest percentage change with 24.9%. The East Midlands saw the smallest change with £15,489m. The number of importers decreased by 8.6% to 70,630 for Q3 2009. The largest percentage decrease was in London with 10.9% to 13,458. No regions reported an increase in the number of importers (HMRC - Regional Trade Statistics).