Employment, Economy and Healthy Workplaces

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to the labour market, employment, economy and healthy workplaces in Hull including local strategic need and service provision.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• Being in good work is better for your health than being out of work. ‘Good work’ is defined as having a safe and secure job with good working hours and conditions, supportive management and opportunities for training and development.
• Unemployment and poor quality employment increases stress, lowers self-esteem, increases the risk of benefit dependence, and increases the likelihood of poverty and financial insecurity. This can impact greatly not just on mental health and emotional health, but can influence physical health with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. This not only affects individuals but has a great impact on families, the community and Hull’s overall economy.
• In the year from October 2022 to September 2023, 75.5% of Hull’s population aged 16-64 years was economically active (78.1% for men and 72.9% for women) with 73.6% in employment.
• For the financial year 2023/24, employment rates in Hull at 69.3% were lower than England (75.7%) and among the lowest in the region, having decreased from a high of 74.0% in 2019/20.
• In contrast, the employment rates among those aged 50-64 years was higher in Hull compared to England for 2022/23 (75.7% versus 71.3%) and among the highest in the region with a relatively sharp increase from 68.5% in 2019/20. Employment rates fell slightly across the region and in England between 2019/20 and 2020/21 due to an increased number of people taking retirement early, but there was no such decreased in Hull, and rates increased in Hull. Since then, rates have increased slightly across the region, but decreased further for England. It is likely that the cost of living crisis has impacted meant that more people aged 50-64 years have returned to work in Hull due to the higher levels of deprivation and poverty in Hull compared to England whose residents might be less affected.
• For the year from October 2022 to September 2023, among the working-age population who were economically inactive, there were fewer full-time students and people who had retired which suggests that students in Hull are more likely to work and people are less likely to take early retirement. Furthermore, people in Hull were more likely to be not working because of long-term illness or disability (34.7%) compared to Yorkshire and Humber (29.0%) and Great Britain (26.9%).
• In the year from October 2022 to September 2023, the model-based unemployment rate in Hull was estimated to be 3.5%, the same as the Yorkshire and Humber figure and Great Britain (3.7%). However, for the year 2023, the model-based unemployment rate is 3.0% for Hull which is lower than England at 3.7% so it appears to have reduced further with 3,900 individuals in Hull estimated to be unemployed.
• For 2021/22, the rates of long-term unemployment (claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for 12 months or more) were more than twice as high as the other 14 local authorities in the region at 7.5 people per 1,000 working age population for Hull, and substantially higher than England (1.9 per 1,000 working age population). This resulted in an estimate of 1,255 people in Hull who had long-term unemployment. It is possible that this has reduced given the reduction in the unemployment rate since 2021/22. The long-term claimant rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance for 2022 was three and a half times as high in Hull compared to England (5.0 versus 1.4 per 1,000 population).
• In the year from October 2022 to September 2023, the employment profile was also much lower in Hull with far fewer managers, directors and professional occupations (33.9%) compared to the region (47.8%) or Great Britain (52.6%) and – at the other end of the scale – more process plant and machine operatives and people in elementary occupations (28.5%) compared to the region (18.0%) and Great Britain (14.9%). Highest educational attainment among adults and earnings were also lower in Hull. This is reflected in the average weekly earnings which are lower in Hull compared than England (£422 versus £496), and among the lowest in the region.
• The rates of absence from work are lower in Hull which suggests a higher percentage of jobs without good sick pay and/or concern over taking time off work when ill and worries about their losing job if ill.
• Compared to the general working-age population where the employment rate was over 70%, people in Hull with long-term health problems were less likely to work (62.4%) for 2022/23, although the greatest differences were among people in contact with secondary mental health services who were on a Care Plan Approach where 11% worked (for 2020/21), and people with learning disabilities where fewer than 0.4% worked (for 2022/23).
• The employment circumstances for residents of Hull and labour market situation in Hull is worse than many other places due to Hull’s high levels of deprivation, and this has deteriorated markedly due to COVID-19.
• In February 2020, 5.7% of Hull’s working-age population were claiming Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance, but this increased sharply to 8.7% in April 2020 following the first COVID-19 lockdown which commenced at the end of March 2020. The percentage increased further in May 2020 to 9.8%, although decreased throughout the remainder of 2020 to 9.5% in December. However, with the COVID-19 national lockdown that commenced in early January 2021, the percentage increased in February to 9.8% and remained high in March too. The percentage has decreased gradually over the remainder of 2021 and into 2022, falling to 5.8% in September 2022 which is similar to the pre-pandemic level.

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

Being in good work is better for your health than being out of work. ‘Good work’ is defined as having a safe and secure job with good working hours and conditions, supportive management and opportunities for training and development. There is clear evidence that good work improves health and wellbeing across people’s lives and protects against social exclusion. Conversely, unemployment is bad for health and wellbeing, as it is associated with an increased risk of mortality and morbidity.

Long-term unemployment can have a very high negative influence on both physical and mental health. People who are long-term unemployed or are in short-term or low paid jobs with little stability including those on zero-hour contracts, have increased stress levels, lower self-esteem, and have a much higher risk of benefit dependence. This not only affects the individuals, their families and communities, but influences the entire local economy. Entrenched worklessness affects the entire family, and children living in families where parents are not working are more likely to live in poverty, leave school with no qualifications or low levels of qualifications, and be unemployed themselves or have low paid employment.

The life chances of young people who are not in education, employment and training (NEET) when they leave school are adversely affected over the long-term. Among those who do enter into education, employment or training at a later stage in their lives, their life chances are still poorer than those who were in education, employment or training throughout. Further information is given under Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training within Health and Wellbeing Influences.

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (formerly Public Health England) Health Matters presents the health and work cycle.

The Hull Picture

Levels of unemployment, low quality employment and economic inactivity are generally higher in Hull, and salaries are generally lower due to Hull’s increased deprivation, and as a result the benefit claimant rate is high. A much higher percentage of Hull’s working-age population are not working due to long-term illness and disability compared to the region and to England.

The data included here represents a snapshot in time in relation to the labour market. People’s circumstances can change markedly in a short period of time as illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. More recent information relating to employment, unemployment and benefit claimants can be found on Hull’s Data Observatory which is updated more regularly.

Hull’s Data Observatory

Hull’s Data Observatory gives the percentage of people in Hull aged 16-64 years who are economically active and compares it to England and the region. The percentage working part-time and full-time is also given as well as the percentages who are employees or self-employed, work in the public or private sector, the number of hours worked per week, and occupation type. It also includes a count of the number of businesses in Hull, their size, industrial type and how long ago they were formed. Hull’s Data Observatory also includes information on gross value added and the number of apprenticeships for Hull by industry type, as well as the salaries of residents of Hull. Information is given on the percentages of people who are economically inactive and their reasons for being economically inactive, as well as trends in benefit claimants count in Hull.

Hull’s Data Observatory also gives an employment profile for each of the 21 wards in Hull within their Local Area Profiles. These include the percentages of people aged 16-64 years who are economically active as well as information on their activity type (full-time employee, part-time employee, full-time student, self-employed, unemployed or retired) and their occupational group. The percentage of people who are economically inactive is given as well as the percentages who are long-term unemployed and who are unemployed who have never worked. The trends in the benefit claimants count is also given for each of the 21 electoral wards.

Local Authority Labour Market Profiles

Local authority labour market profiles are available from Official Labour Market Statistics (nomis) presenting information mainly from the Annual Population Survey. The profiles provide information on numbers economically active and inactive, reasons for inactivity, workless households, types of employment, earnings and out-of-work benefits as summarised below for the year January to December 2021.

Information relating to the work and the labour market are also available on The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips and some of this information also comes from the Annual Population Survey.

Economically Active and Inactive

From the Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey, three-quarters (75.5%) of working-age people in Hull were economically active with 73.6% in employment (67.7% employees and 4.8% self-employed) and a model-based unemployment rate of 3.5% during the year from October 2022 to September 2023. The unemployment rate in Hull was the same as the Yorkshire and Humber region (3.5%) but smaller than that of Great Britain (3.7%). It is estimated that 4,600 people are unemployed in Hull. The employment rates differ for males and females with 75.8% of males in employment compared to 71.5% of females. Of those who did work, women were more likely to be employees compared to men (67.9% versus 67.4%).

Gender	Measure	Hull (N)	Hull (%)	Y&H (%)	GB (%)
Persons	Economically active	131,600	75.5	77.4	78.8
Persons	In employment	128,400	73.6	74.7	75.8
Persons	Employees	117,900	67.7	65.9	66.3
Persons	Self-employed	8,200	4.8	8.5	9.2
Persons	Unemployed (model-based)	4,600	3.5	3.5	3.7
Males	Economically active	68,300	78.1	81.4	82.7
Males	In employment	66,400	75.8	78.7	79.3
Males	Employees	59,000	67.4	66.9	67.2
Males	Self-employed	5,800	#	11.4	11.8
Males	Unemployed (model-based)	#	#	3.4	4.0
Females	Economically active	63,300	72.9	73.4	74.9
Females	In employment	62,100	71.5	70.8	72.3
Females	Employees	58,800	67.9	65.0	65.4
Females	Self-employed	#	#	5.6	6.7
Females	Unemployed (model-based)	!	!	3.5	3.4

The percentage of people aged 16-64 years in employment in Hull is among the lowest across the region for 2023/24 at 69%.

The trends over time illustrate the improving percentage of Hull’s working-age population who are in employment, and the reducing inequalities gap between Hull and England until 2020/21.

The percentage of people in Hull in employment fell slightly between 2019/20 and 2020/21, although it is likely that the employment rate differed throughout 2020/21 with the COVID-19 pandemic but the figure below represents a summary of the entire year.

There has been a larger decrease in the employment rate between 2020/21 and 2021/22 falling from 73.2% to 70.5% in Hull which was not been reflected across England or the region as their employment rates increased over the that time period, and whilst the employment rate did increase slightly in Hull to 71.5% for 2022/23, it decreased to 69.3% for 2023/24 which is the lowest rate since 2016/17.

In contrast, the employment rate among those aged 50-64 years is higher in Hull than for England and the among the the highest in the region for 2022/23.

The employment rate among those aged 50-64 years has been gradually increasing in Hull. During the pandemic, there were more people aged 50+ years taking earlier retirement across England (with the reduction between 2019/20 and 2020/21), but this does not appear to be the case in Hull or across the region. The percentage in Hull has increased more sharply between 2021/22 and 2022/23 which could be associated with the cost of living crisis which has affected more deprived areas of the country like Hull more than England overall.

The percentage of those people aged 16-64 years who are economic inactive comprise those who are neither employed nor unemployed, and at 29% for Hull for 2023/24 is the highest in the region and substantially higher than England at 21%.

This group mainly consists of people who are not working due to long-term illness or disability, people who are temporarily sick (with no employment), people looking after the family/home, students (who are not working) and people who are retired prior to the age of 64 years.

The percentage of working-age people who are economically inactive decreased in Hull from 28.8% in 2011/12 to a low of 21.1% in 2019/20 prior to the COVID-19, although increased between 2019/20 and 2021/22 to almost 25% with a relatively large increase to 29% for 2023/24.

The latest rate is the highest it has been in Hull since before 2011/12.

For 2023/24, it is estimated that 49,600 people in Hull are economically inactive.

The percentage of Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) within Health and Wellbeing Influences.

Reasons for Economic Inactivity

From the Annual Population Survey, of those who were economically inactive, 24.4% were students, 22.8% were looking after the family or home and 34.7% were long-term sick during the year from October 2022 to September 2023. The percentage of people looking after the family or home and who were long-term sick were both higher in Hull compared to the Yorkshire and Humber, and Great Britain, particularly the percentage who were long-term sick. As Hull is a city with more than one further education establishment, one might have expected that the percentage of students to be higher. However, the percentage relates to those who are economically inactive. Any full-time (or part-time) student who is working as well as studying will be classified as economically active as they are working (and will not be included in the 24.4% figure). So this percentage only relates to those students who are not working.

Overall, 33.1% of those who were economically inactive wanted a job which was considerably higher than the region (19.4%) and across Great Britain (17.5%).

Type of economic inactivity	Hull (N)	Hull (%)	Y&H (%)	GB (%)
Student	10,100	24.4	24.3	26.8
Looking after family/home	9,500	22.8	19.5	19.4
Long-term sick	14,400	34.7	29.0	26.9
Discouraged	!	!	#	0.2
Retired	#	#	13.2	12.7
Other	#	#	11.1	11.5
Total	41,500	24.5	22.6	21.2
Wants a job	13,800	33.1	19.4	17.5
Does not want a job	27,800	66.9	80.6	82.5

Employment Rate Among People with Long-Term Health Problems

Fingertips also presents the percentage points gap between the overall employment rate and the employment rate among those who have a long-term physical or mental health problem, have learning disabilities and those in contact with secondary mental health services. As well as the overall employment rates among people with a physical or mental long-term health problem, and in receipt of long-term support for a learning disability.

People With Long-Term Health Conditions

For 2022/23, employment rates were 9.1 percentage points lower among those with long-term physical or mental health problems giving an overall employment rate of 62.4% among people aged 16-64 years who had long-term physical or mental health problems compared to 71.5% among all people aged 16-64 years.

With the exception of the high gap for 2020/21 – likely associated with the COVID-19 pandemic – the gap has been reduced over the last six years. The employment rate increased among people with a physical or mental long-term health problem between 57.7% in 2020/21 and 62.4% in 2022/23.

People With Learning Disabilities

There is a very large gap between the employment rate among those with a learning disability and the overall employment rate at 71.1 percentage points. The overall employment rate for 2022/23 was 71.5%, so this means that only 0.4% of people with a learning disability were in employment in Hull.

The inequalities gap in the employment rates has generally been increasing in Hull over time among people with learning disabilities. The number of people in Hull aged 18-64 years with a learning disability who are employed is very low in Hull with only three individuals recorded as being in employment during 2022/23.

People in Contact With Secondary Mental Health Services

The inequalities gap in the employment rate among people in contact with secondary mental health services and who are on a Care Plan Approach is also high in Hull at 62.2 percentage points. During 2020/21, the overall employment rate was 73.2% and it was only 11% for people in contact with secondary mental health services.

The inequalities gap has also been increasing for people in contact with secondary mental health services in relation to employment with the latest year 2020/21 having the highest gap of 62.2 percentage points.

Overall, 56 people aged 18-69 years in contact with secondary mental health services and on the Care Plan Approach in Hull are in paid employment for 2020/21.

Unemployment and Workless Households

The model-based unemployment rate has already been presented above from the local authority labour market profiles and was estimated to be 3.5% for Hull during the 12-month period from October 2022 to September 2023.

From the Annual Population Survey, in 2022, there were around 87,3000 households in Hull of which 44,200 (50.6%) were working households, 13,400 (15.3%) were workless households and 29,700 (34.1%) were mixed households with some members of the household working and some not working.

There were 49,200 households with children under 16 years with 23,200 (47.1%) living in working households, 21,300 (43.4%) living in mixed households and 4,700 (9.5%) living in workless households. Among the 56,800 households with dependent children, 42.8% lived in working households, 48.9% in mixed households and 8.3% in workless households.

Among households with only people aged 16+ years, the percentage of workless households is 11.5% and the percentage of working households is 45.0%. Households with only people aged 16-64 years as 10.3% were workless households and 47.3% were working households.

From Fingertips, in 2023, the average modelled unemployment rate among those aged 16+ years in Hull was estimated to be 3.0% which was actually lower than for England (3.7%).

The unemployment rate had been decreasing in Hull, but the rate increased in 2019, although based on these modelled figures decreased in 2020 and again in 2021. The unemployment rate in Hull is the lowest it has been in 2023 over the last decade.

In 2023, it is estimated that 3,900 people in Hull are unemployed.

The percentage of the working-age population who were long-term unemployed is more than twice as high in Hull than every other local authority in the Yorkshire and Humber region for 2021/22 at 7.5 per 1,000 population (ranging from 0.8% to 3.5% for the other 14 local authorities in the region).

The rate is the average monthly claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance who have been claiming for more than 12 months, expressed as a rate per 1,000 of the working age population.

It was estimated that there were 1,255 residents of Hull in 2021/22 aged 16-64 years who were long-term unemployed.

Another measure of long-term unemployment is long-term claimants of Job Seekers Allowance. In 2022, the number of people aged 16+ per 1,000 population aged 16-64 years who were long-term (more than 12 months) claimants of Job Seekers Allowance was three and a half times higher in Hull than the percentage for England

The claimants rate of Job Seekers Allowance in Hull was higher than for all other local authorities across the region.

There has been a dramatic decrease in the rate of long-term claimants of Job Seekers Allowance in Hull having fallen from over 30 per 1,000 population aged 16-64 years in 2012 and 2013 to 9.0 per 1,000 population in 2017. The rate has increased slightly for 2019, but has decreased since then.

The more recent decreases could be due to people in Hull transferring to Universal Credit.

In 2023, there were 518 long-term claimants of Job Seekers Allowance in Hull.

Occupational Profile

For October 2022 to September 2023, the occupational profile was considerably different in Hull compared to the region or Great Britain. In Hull, 33.9% of the workforce were in employment groups 1-3 equating to mangers, directors, senior officials, professional occupations, and associate professional and technical compared to 47.8% for Yorkshire and Humber and 52.6% for Great Britain. At the other end of the scale, 28.5% of Hull’s workforce in employment groups 8-9 equating to process plant and machine operative, and elementary occupations compared to 18.0% for Yorkshire and Humber and 14.9% for Great Britain.

From the Office for National Statistics Business Register and Employment Survey 2021, 67.5% of employee jobs in Hull were full-time and 33.3% were part-time. There were higher proportions of employees in manufacturing, construction, administrative and support service activities, public administration and defence, and in education, human health and social work activities in Hull compared to the region and Great Britain. In Hull, there were lower proportions of employees in mining and quarrying (as there were no workers in this industry), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, information and communication, and financial and insurance activities, as well as professional, scientific and technical activities, compared to the region and Great Britain.

Qualifications

For 2021, from the Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey, the highest educational attainment among adults aged 16-64 years was lower in Hull with 11.1% having no qualifications compared to 7.8% across the region and 6.6% for Great Britain. Overall, 24.7% of working-age people in Hull had qualifications at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) 4 or above (degree, full technical certificates and Higher National Certificates) compared to 38.0% across the Yorkshire and Humber, and 43.5% for Great Britain.

Further information relating to qualifications is given within Schools, Education and Qualifications within Health and Wellbeing Influences.

Earnings

Median earnings were by place of residence for 2021 were also lower in Hull with full-time workers earning £510 as a gross weekly wage compared to £569 across Yorkshire and Humber and £613 for Great Britain, and lower among women in Hull compared to men (£453 versus £574). Hourly pay excluding overtime was £12.48 per hour among Hull workers compared to £14.21 across the region and £15.65 for Great Britain. However, median earnings were by place of work for 2021 in Hull were slightly higher than the region (£613 versus £601) for full-time male workers and similar to the region for females (£497 versus £498). This illustrates that those who come into Hull to work who live outside Hull tend to have higher earnings than those who live in Hull.

The median gross weekly earnings among people aged 16+ years in Hull for 2023 was £486 which was among the lowest across the region.

This figure is the median gross weekly earnings before tax, national insurance and other deductions of full-time and part-time employees paid through the PAYE (pay as you earn) system excluding over-time.

The average weekly earnings has been increasing in Hull in line with increases observed nationally and locally, but the earnings have been statistically significantly lower in Hull compared to England for the entire period 2011 to 2023.

Benefit Claimants

From Hull’s Data Observatory, there were 9,995 claimants of out of work benefits (Universal Credit or Job Seekers Allowance) in Hull among people aged 16+ years in December 2023 (5,950 men and 4,040 women) representing 5.8% of the population (6.8% for men and 4.7% for women). In December 2023, 4.1% of people aged 16+ years were claiming these benefits across the Yorkshire and Humber region and 3.8% were doing so across England.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on the numbers claiming these benefits in Hull. In March 2019, there were 7,600 people (4.5%) in Hull aged 16+ years claiming these out-of-work benefits, but this steadily increased to around 9,600 (5.7%) in February 2020. The COVID-19 lockdown started at the end of March 2020, and in April 2020 the number of benefit claimants jumped to over 14,600, increasing further to 16,300 in May 2020. The numbers fell slightly but remained around 16,000 for the rest of 2020. With the national lockdown which commenced early January 2021, the numbers increased further in February and remained high in March 2021. Since then, the numbers gradually fell to just over 12,000 in January 2022. Over the course of the pandemic, the percentage claiming these benefits in Hull was significantly higher than across the region and England, but there tended to be a relatively consistent difference between Hull and these areas with the percentage in Hull being around 3.0 to 3.2 percentage points higher.

The percentage claiming out of work benefits in Hull was higher after COVID restrictions ended in March 2022 (7.2%) than it was prior to the pandemic in February 2020 (5.7%), although the percentage has decreased since March and is now similar to the pre-pandemic level, at 5.8% in September 2022.

Month/year	Hull (N)	Hull (%)
Jan 2022	12,195	7.3
Feb 2022	12,285	7.3
Mar 2022	12,030	7.2
Apr 2022	11,040	6.6
May 2022	10,595	6.3
Jun 2022	10,220	6.1
Jul 2022	10,145	6.1
Aug 2022	9,855	5.9
Sep 2022	9,475	5.7
Oct 2022	9,365	5.6
Nov 2022	9,715	5.8
Dec 2022	9,905	5.7
Jan 2023	9,830	5.7
Feb 2023	9,740	5.6
Mar 2023	9,920	5.8
Apr 2023	10,040	5.8
May 2023	9,720	5.6
Jun 2023	9,655	5.6
Jul 2023	9,550	5.5
Aug 2023	9,485	5.5
Sep 2023	9,305	5.4
Oct 2023	9,370	5.4
Nov 2023	9,640	5.6
Dec 2023	9,995	5.8

Sickness Absence From Work

The percentage of employees who had at least one day off in the previous week and the percentage of working days lost due to sickness absence in the previous week is lower in Hull compared to England for 2020-22.

Over the three year period, 1.1% of employees had at least day off in the previous week in Hull compared to 2.0% for England, and 0.9% of all working days were lost in Hull due to sickness absence compared to 1.1% for England. It is possible that there are a higher rate of minimum wage, zero hour contracts and other more unstable employment where sick pay is not as generous as more well-paid jobs in Hull, and this is likely to impact on sickness absence in Hull.

Between 2013-15 and 2015-17, sickness rates in Hull were higher than England, but since then rates of sickness has reduced in Hull and are now lower than England.

Strategic Need and Service Provision

Children should be given the best start in life to give them the opportunity to enjoy good employment prospects. All adults especially those who are long-term unemployed should be given good, appropriate, timely advice, help and support, and additional training to improve their resilience, wellbeing and confidence so that they can achieve good future employment, and improve their health and wellbeing. Everybody should have the opportunity to improve their employment and life choices through increased good quality and appropriate education and training. There needs to be good quality, affordable childcare available to maximise parental choice in employment.

People’s circumstances can often be improved by early help, and any early help and intervention for all families should be timely, accessible and appropriate for their circumstances. Hull’s Early Help and Prevention offer is focused on a whole family approach which aims to identify individuals and families with problems and brings together different services and agencies to collectively look at what support is needed and then work together to deliver the required support in a coordinated way. The framework outlines the approach to ensure that collaboration and alignment of services, and that early help may be ‘early in life or at the earliest opportunity’ which is also part of the day job, helpful, non-stigmatising, preventative, targeted and tailored.

Over the past decade Hull has had a significant increase in the number of people in work coupled with a similar reduction in those who were economic inactive. Providing opportunities for access to employment opportunities for those with barriers due to skills, caring responsibilities, or other reasons will help improve a wide range of health, economic, and social outcomes including reducing food, fuel, and child poverty across the city.  Positive and deliberate action to target under-represented groups in the workforce are important to ensure that everyone has the ability to participate in the economy.

Over 20% of Hull’s workforce, 26,000 people, is employed in the manufacturing and transportation and storage sectors. Since 2015, Hull has seen the largest growth in employment within the medical, construction, and manufacturing sectors. Creating a recognisable enterprise culture in the city is vital to establishing a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive economy. This will involve encouraging entrepreneurial skills and attitudes and recognising the contribution that enterprise activity can make to people’s lives, particularly amongst young people.

A ‘health first’ approach should be used to tackle worklessness by promoting opportunities for people to be fit for work and fit in work. There also needs to be support for initiatives that create and provide access to quality sustainable jobs. It is necessary to ensure that local residents have the good health, fitness, skills, education and training required to take up employment opportunities.

For many individuals, in particular those with long-term conditions such as mental health problems, musculoskeletal conditions and disabilities, health issues can be a barrier to gaining and retaining employment.

Nationally, combined costs from worklessness and sickness absence amount to around £100 billion annually, so there is also a strong economic case for action. Addressing and removing health-related barriers requires collaborative work between partners from across the private, public and third sectors at both national and local level.

Creating Healthy Workplaces

Creating healthy workplaces entails supporting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions. It is also important to ensure the health and wellbeing of healthy employees who do not have existing health conditions is maintained, as work and the workplace also play a pivotal role in this.

Jobs need to be sustainable and offer a minimum level of quality, which should include:

• a decent living wage;
• opportunities for in-work development;
• flexibility to enable people to balance work and family life; and
• protection from adverse working conditions that can damage health.

The Health, Work and Health Related Worklessness report, published by The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (formerly Public Health England) and the Local Government Association, can be used by local authorities as a guide to inform decisions around improving health and work outcomes in their communities.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on employment prospects in our area, particularly for young people affecting the poorest, most deprived areas the most.

In March 2020, Hull’s employment figures were the highest recorded levels since the last great recession and increased by over 15% to an overall rate of 75.3% which was only marginally behind national levels. Change had happened, economically Hull had delivered an about turn in its fortunes.

By May 2020, the impacts of the pandemic had immediately been seen in the labour market with out of work claimant rates increasing by 65% to 9.7% of the working age population and a disproportionate effect on particular groups of people. Young people, women, and those from minority ethnic communities have all seen greater impacts in the number of job losses, unemployment claimants, and those furloughed. These challenges confirmed the structural issues that existed before the pandemic, and which still requires addressing.

Analysis has also shown that while cities based solely on service sectors were severely affected by the pandemic, Hull’s economy based on the producer and foundational sectors of manufacturing, transportation and storage and health and social care, placed it in a strong position for growth.

Looking forwards, the ‘cost of living crisis’ and the threat of further economic impacts, especially with regards to domestic fuel costs and rising interest rates, will have particular impacts on Hull due to high levels of poverty, debt and financial insecurity which are already considerably higher than most local authorities in England.

Resources

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (formerly Public Health England). Health Matters infographics.

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. https://fingertips.phe.org.uk

Official Labour Market Statistics (nomis). Labour Market Profile for Hull. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157109/report.aspx#tabempunemp

Official Labour Market Statistics (nomis). Annual Population Survey – Households by combined economic activity status. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/

Hull Data Observatory. https://data.hull.gov.uk/economy-and-employment/

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (formerly Public Health England) and the Local Government Association. Health, Work and Health Related Worklessness. https://www.local.gov.uk/health-work-and-health-related-worklessness-guide-local-authorities

Hull’s Economic Strategy 2021-2026. https://www.hull.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/policies-and-plans/economic-strategy

Hull’s Early Help and Prevention Strategy 2021-25. https://www.hull.gov.uk/downloads/file/1726/Hull_Early_Help_and_Prevention_Strategy_2021_25.pdf

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 7 October 2024.

This page is due to be updated / checked in January 2025.