Key Economic Statistics - August 2008

27.08.08

The latest bulletin on Key Economic National Statistics produced by the Welsh Assembly Government was released on 13 August 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

The bulletin includes latest information from a range of sources and covers a variety of time periods.

This bulletin updates the statistics previously released on 18 July 2008.

Statistical Bulletin 42/2008 (PDF 294kB)

The key points from the latest release are:

• The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to June 2008 show:
• The employment rate of people of working age in Wales was 72.6 per cent, up from 72.2 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 74.8 per cent.
• The ILO unemployment rate in Wales was 4.9 per cent of the economically active, down from 5.5 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  For the UK as a whole it was 5.4 per cent.
• The rate of economic activity amongst people of working age in Wales was 76.4 per cent, down from 76.6 per cent in the same period a year earlier.  The UK average was 79.1 per cent.
• The claimant count rate in July 2008 for Wales was 3.0 per cent of the workforce, up 0.2 percentage points on July 2007 (UK rate 2.7 per cent).
• The claimant count rate in July 2008 for West Wales and the Valleys was 2.5 per cent of the resident population of working-age.  The rate for East Wales stood at 2.2 per cent.

The detailed quarterly Labour Force Survey datasets on StatsWales were updated to include the new labour market information on 15 August 2008.

Contact:
Tel: 029 2082 5017
E-mail: economic.stats@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next Update:
19 September 2008 

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