West Yorkshire City Region Employment Profile

Posted on by Jon FitzmauriceRebecca FlorissonAman Navani

Bradford

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has the third largest population of the nine English Combined Authorities at 2.35 million (ONS, 2022). It brings together five local authorities: Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield.

It has an employment rate of 73.4% and its unemployment rate (3.6%) is lower than the English average (3.7%) [ONS, 2023]. Economic inactivity is higher in West Yorkshire (23.9%) than the rest of England (21.4%) [ONS, 2023]. Workers in the region earn a weekly wage of £547, which is just under £83 lower than the English average wage (Centre for Cities, 2023).

Just under one in five (19.2%) workers in West Yorkshire are in severely insecure work which is slightly below the national average of 19.8%. West Yorkshire Combined Authority has the third lowest level of severely insecure work out of the nine English Combined Authorities.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has a slightly higher number of low paid jobs and involuntary temporary work than the English average.

Across the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, there is variation amongst the six local authorities. Kirklees is the hotspot in the city region for severely insecure work at 21.9%, which is over two percentage points higher than the West Yorkshire average. Calderdale has the lowest levels of severely insecure work in West Yorkshire at 15.9% and is three percentage points below the national average.

Analysis shows that women, workers from ethnic minority backgrounds, and workers between the ages of 16 and 24 are most likely to be in severely insecure work in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Source: Work Foundation calculations of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey; 2021- 2022.

Source: Work Foundation calculations of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey; 2021- 2022.

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