News

• 23 January 2020

  Kirklees unemployment decreases by 80 to 9,735 (December 2019)

  Unemployment figures (Claimant Count, Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)) for December 2019 were released on Tuesday 21 January 2020 by the Department of Works and Pensions, and are now available in profiles, tables and maps. Figures shown use the headline 'Claimant Count' indicator introduced in October 2015, which counts the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work.
  
  Profile: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/profiles/profile?profileId=124
  Table: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/dataviews/view?viewId=555
  
  
  The unemployment total for Kirklees in December 2019 was 9,735 or 3.6% of 16-64 year old population (England 2.9%). This represents a decrease of -80 on the previous month, and an increase of +885 claimants on the same time last year; the lowest number of claimants in recent years was in December 2016 (5,380). However, under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker's Allowance. As Universal Credit Full Service is rolled out in particular areas, the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise.
  The number unemployed January 2008 to date peaked in February 2013 (13,440). In the Leeds City Region Craven has the lowest unemployment (1.2%), with Bradford the highest (4.8%). The ward with the highest unemployment rate is Dewsbury West (5.7%), with Denby Dale and Kirkburton the lowest at 1.1%.
  
  Youth unemployment (18-24) stood at 1,950 or 5.2% of the population aged 18-24 (England 4.0%), -55 lower than last month and +155 higher than the same time last year. However, the claimant count underestimates youth unemployment as not everyone is entitled to benefit or chooses to claim. From the Annual Population Survey it is estimated that the number of young people unemployed in West Yorkshire is around twice as high compared to the claimant count.
  
  There are two ways of measuring unemployment. The alternative method to the claimant count is the Annual Population Survey which is less accurate, but counts people who are not eligible for benefit that are out of work and actively seeking work. In Kirklees the latest model-based unemployment figure was 8,600 or 4.1% of those aged 16 and over and economically active (England 3.9%). However, confidence intervals reveal that the true number unemployed for Kirklees could lie between 11,900 and 7,100 (5.6% to 3.4%), so this helps to show why this measure is not often quoted; nevertheless the trend has been downwards, and the latest figure for people surveyed between July 2018 and June 2019 is statistically significantly lower than July 2010 and June 2011.
  

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• 13 January 2020

  Descriptive overview of the Kirklees District with maps and charts

  This document contains a descriptive overview of the Kirklees District with maps and charts containing population, economic, ethnic groups, and other useful information about Kirklees as a whole.
  
  http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/resource/view?resourceId=4560

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• 17 December 2019

  Kirklees unemployment increases by 60 to 9,815 (November 2019)

  Unemployment figures (Claimant Count, Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)) for November 2019 were released on Tuesday 17 December 2019 by the Department of Works and Pensions, and are now available in profiles, tables and maps. Figures shown use the headline 'Claimant Count' indicator introduced in October 2015, which counts the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work.
  
  Profile: http://www.westyorkshireobservatory.org/profiles/profile?profileId=124&geoTypeId=
  Table: http://www.westyorkshireobservatory.org/dataviews/view?viewId=141
  
  The unemployment total for Kirklees in November 2019 was 9,815 or 3.6% of 16-64 year old population (England 2.9%). This represents an increase of +60 on the previous month, and an increase of +1,055 claimants on the same time last year; the lowest number of claimants in recent years was in December 2016 (5,380). However, under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker's Allowance. As Universal Credit Full Service is rolled out in particular areas, the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise.
  The number unemployed January 2008 to date peaked in February 2013 (13,440). In the Leeds City Region York and Craven have the lowest unemployment (1.3%), with Bradford the highest (4.8%). The ward with the highest unemployment rate is Dewsbury West (5.6%), with Denby Dale and Kirkburton the lowest at 1.1%.
  
  Youth unemployment (18-24) stood at 2,005 or 5.3% of the population aged 18-24 (England 4.0%), -10 lower than last month and +170 higher than the same time last year. However, the claimant count underestimates youth unemployment as not everyone is entitled to benefit or chooses to claim. From the Annual Population Survey it is estimated that the number of young people unemployed in West Yorkshire is around twice as high compared to the claimant count.
  
  There are two ways of measuring unemployment. The alternative method to the claimant count is the Annual Population Survey which is less accurate, but counts people who are not eligible for benefit that are out of work and actively seeking work. In Kirklees the latest model-based unemployment figure was 9,500 or 4.5% of those aged 16 and over and economically active (England 4.1%). However, confidence intervals reveal that the true number unemployed for Kirklees could lie between 11,900 and 7,100 (5.6% to 3.4%), so this helps to show why this measure is not often quoted; nevertheless the trend has been downwards, and the latest figure for people surveyed between July 2018 and June 2019 is statistically significantly lower than July 2010 and June 2011.
  

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• 22 November 2019

  Number of residential properties increases by 1,700 since 2018

  Updated council tax data for July 2019 includes council tax reduction scheme benefit claimants, single person relief discount, number of properties and occupied properties, and empty homes. The data appears in a number of outputs and links to some of these are given below:
  
  Profile: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/profiles/profile?profileId=108&geoTypeId=
  Profile: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/profiles/profile?profileId=139&geoTypeId=
  
  Table: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/dataviews/view?viewId=120
  Table: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/dataviews/view?viewId=558
  
  Data has been extracted annually from council tax systems since 1995, and since then the number of properties on the system has grown from 155,700 to around 188,100 today, an increase of around 21%, with around 1,700 added in Kirklees since July 2018. Across Kirklees the growth has not been equal with Newsome ward experiencing the largest percentage increase (44.1%, 3358 properties), with Dalton the lowest (8.3%, 619 properties). Newsome is an area which has seen much development of dedicated student accommodation in recent years.
  
  Note: In 2019 the script used to provide the annual Council Tax Reduction download had to be re-written which resulted in an increase in claimants of about 8% from 2018. It is thought that this may be due to the inclusion of claims which are still live but which may not be getting any payment at the moment and haven’t yet been cancelled. The Council Tax Reduction data is dated as of September 2019 rather than the normal July download date.
  

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• 18 November 2019

  Kirklees mean house price climbs to £174,000

  House price paid data for January – June 2019 added and appears in the following:
  
  Profile: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/profiles/profile?profileId=139
  Table: http://observatory.kirklees.gov.uk/dataviews/view?viewId=120
  
  Mean house prices climbed to a new high of around £174,900 during the first half of 2019, mean prices had declined to a low of around £144,000 in 2011 for all types. Kirkburton ward had the highest mean price across all types at around £263,500, Dewsbury West the lowest at around £123,000. Cleckheaton ward had the highest number of sales (196) with Batley East the lowest (83); Kirklees has had around 3,000 sales so far in 2019. The highest price paid in the first six months of 2019 was £2,419,000 for a detached house in Temple Road, Dewsbury.
  
  In the Leeds City Region, Harrogate had the highest mean price for all property types of around £325,300 with Barnsley the lowest at around £145,600 (England £292,300).
  
  The price paid data is subject to revision as new records are added for transactions which took place months or years previously. HM Land Registry also publishes average (mean) prices for Local Authorities (House Price Index), but these are calculated using a different methodology (repeat sales of the same property) and are considerably lower. The House Price Index mean for all property types has recovered to above the December 2007 high of £146,442 (Sepc 2019, £153,385).
  

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