Buckinghamshire’s claimant count, February 2019

Buckinghamshire’s claimant count rose by 235 in February to stand at 3,685.

The claimant count has now risen by more than a quarter (26.6 per cent, 735 claimants) since the end of October, to reach its highest level since May 2014. At the national level, the claimant count rose for an eighth successive month, climbing above one million for the first time in five years.

At 1.1 per cent of working age residents, Buckinghamshire has the 2nd lowest claimant count rate among both the 27 county council areas and the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).  Buckinghamshire’s claimant counts range from 0.9 per cent in Chiltern and South Bucks to 1.5 per cent in Wycombe.  By parliamentary constituency, the range is wider, from 0.6 per cent in Buckingham, the 2nd lowest of the UK’s 650 constituencies to 1.8 per cent in Wycombe (209th).  Beaconsfield and Chesham and Amersham rank 19th at 0.9 while Aylesbury ranks 91st (1.3)

Across the county, the claimant count has risen by 30.1 per cent for those living in urban areas over the last two years, almost twice as fast as the increase recorded for rural residents (15.9 per cent).  The claimant count in urban areas reached 1.3 per cent in February, up from 1.0 per cent in February 2017, with rural areas seeing a rise from 0.6 to 0.7 per cent over the same period.

Table 1: Claimant Count, February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

There were 5,409 advertised job openings in Buckinghamshire in February, 4.1 per cent (387 openings) fewer than in January and 15.9 per cent (1,020) fewer than in February 2018.  Professional roles were the most commonly advertised in Buckinghamshire in the year to the end of February, with 20,795 postings accounting for 29.5 per cent of the total, ahead of associate professional roles (12,588, 17.8), managers, directors and senior officials (7,618, 10.8), and administrative and secretarial roles (7,212, 10.2).  In the year to February 2019 there were 70,541 job openings in Buckinghamshire, up 1,456 from the 69,085 posted in the year to February 2018.  Openings for professional occupations fell by 1,393 (6.3 per cent) and were broadly unchanged for managers, directors and senior officials and caring and leisure roles but rose by at least 7 per cent for each of the other six occupational groups, rising to more than a third for process, plant and machine operative roles.

Over the last year, the specialised skills most sought by recruiters in Buckinghamshire have been communication skills which were sought in 7,969 job openings, or 18.1 per cent of the total, ahead of team work/collaboration (6,588, 15.0), and sales (5,364, 12.2).  The most commonly sought baseline skills were communication skills (15,866, 36.2), organisational skills (6,559, 15.0), and Microsoft Excel (6,020, 13.7).

Chart 1: Buckinghamshire’s claimant count over time, to February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Table 2: Claimant count by age group, February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 2: Aylesbury Vale’s claimant count over time, to February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 3: Chiltern’s claimant count over time, to February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 4: South Bucks’ claimant count over time, to February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 5: Wycombe’s claimant count over time, to February 2019

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 6: Annual change in claimant count over time (%), to December 2018

Source: DWP, 2019

Chart 7: Change in job openings by occupation, years ending February 2018 & 2019

Source: Labour Insight, 2019