Rate of economic inactivity rockets – new ONS data

ECONOMIC inactivity levels in the North East have reached their highest level in more than 20 years, shocking new figures suggest.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

The new data from the Office for National Statistics ONS) shows that the region's employment rate rose slightly to 5.1% in the three months to the end of May but that economic inactivity - people who are eligible to work but don’t have jobs - had rocketed to 28.4%.

Taken together, the figures mean that almost a third of the region's working age population are not in work, by some distance the highest rate in the UK.

People classed as economically inactive include those who have retired early or are choosing not to work due to caring responsibilities. But it also includes people with long-term sickness, and the North East now has the highest rate of economic inactivity in the country.