Buckinghamshire's economy, August 2017

By Rupert Waters, Head of Economic Research, Buckinghamshire Business First
16 August, 2017

The latest research on Buckinghamshire's economy is in, giving us a greater understanding of how business, social and economic landscapes are changing over time.

Claimant Count

Buckinghamshire’s claimant count fell for a second successive month in July taking the number of out of work Buckinghamshire residents claiming either Job Seekers’ Allowance or Universal Credit to 2,955. At 0.9 per cent of working age residents Buckinghamshire’s claimant remains less than half the national level, ranking 3rd lowest among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships and 6th lowest among the 27 county council areas.

Over the last year Buckinghamshire’s claimant count has risen by 13.9 per cent, more than double both the national and regional rises (4.6 and 5.7 per cent respectively).

Read the full report of the claimant count rate in Buckinghamshire.

Private sector rents

At £1,144 per month, median private sector rents in Buckinghamshire are more than a third (34.3 per cent) higher than across England as a whole, ranking 3rd highest among the 27 county council areas and 4th among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), behind London, Oxfordshire and Enterprise M3.

Mean private rents in Buckinghamshire for the year ending Q1 2017 were 2.8 per cent higher than in the preceding year, the 12th fastest rise among county council areas, ranking 19th highest among LEPs. Median monthly rents rose 2.7 per cent in the last year to £950, 40.7 per cent above England’s median and the 4th highest among county council areas.

Read the full report on private sector rents in Buckinghamshire.