Economic activity
On the day of the census, March 21st 2021, just over million residents of the Lancashire-12 area aged sixteen and over stated that they were economically active. This included people in full-time and part-time work, the self-employed, economically active students and unemployed people seeking a job. The total amounted to 57.8% of all people in Lancashire-12 aged sixteen and over.
In comparison to the England and Wales average (60.6%) the Lancashire-12 area had a lower rate of economic activity. At the Lancashire local authority level, South Ribble and Chorley recorded activity rates of 62% or just below. In contrast, the rates in Fylde and Wyre were under 54%.
Out of 318 local authorities across England and Wales, the authority with the highest economic activity rate would be ranked in first position. South Ribble and Chorley were ranked in the top 150, while Fylde and Wyre were ranked 305th and 309th respectively. The main reason for their low rankings is the high proportion of retired persons in those boroughs. In table 2 these are shown as 33.2% for Fylde and 32.7% for Wyre out of the population aged sixteen and above.
All of the figures quoted above are taken from the ONS Census 2021 table 'TS066 - Economic activity status'. It is important to note that the population base changed from the 16-74 age group used for tables such as 'QS601EW - Economic activity' from the 2011 census. This change has a major impact on the economic activity rates for some Lancashire authorities when compared to other parts of England or the national rates. Therefore we have sought out more detailed tables where the age base can be adjusted to be more comparable with the 2011 census and to also exclude those not in the working age population (ages 16 to 64). ONS have provided a tool that allows custom tables to be created from a mixture of census variables. The three different age bands: 16-64, 16-74 and 16 and over are available for table 3 and the ward map in the Microsoft Power BI report.
Set for 16 to 74 the rates were more in line with those in the 2011 report. In South Ribble the economic activity rate exceeded 70% while it's ranking climbed into the top 100. When set for 16 to 64 the rates for Ribble Valley and South Ribble exceeded 80% and their ranks climbed into the top thirties. Meanwhile the rates in Lancaster, Pendle and Blackburn with Darwen did not exceed 70%.
Blackburn with Darwen was ranked in 308th place for economic activity for the 16 to 64 age band. The reasons for this can be seen in the economic inactivity statistics in table 2. Eight percent were described as looking after home or family while 6.6% were long-term sick or disabled. The 10.7% of Lancaster residents marked as students contributed to the low economic activity rate.
Please note that students, importantly full-time students, can be classed as economically active or inactive. A full-time student is defined as studying for at least 21 hours a week. This does allow for time to work at least part-time. If a student is doing no or minimal hours of work they are classed as economically inactive. Table 2 shows students who are doing no work, while table 3 and the ward map includes some full-time students amongst the economically active.
Interactive report
Source: NOMIS: Census 2021: Economic activity status ONS custom dataset builder