Yorkshire and The Humber unemployment rate in England
Yorkshire and The Humber unemployment rate in England stood at 4.8% in Mar 2026, according to Nomis — official labour market statistics (ONS). It is one of the indicators in the Labour market structure table (Value · Monthly), with a complete series running from Dec 2004 to Mar 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Labour market structure table
| Indicator | 03-2026 | 12-2025 | 09-2025 | 06-2025 | 03-2025 | 12-2024 | 09-2024 | 06-2024 | 03-2024 | 12-2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, aged 16 to 64 | |||||||||||
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4 | 3.3 | 3 | 2.9 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | |
| East Midlands | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4 | 4 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
Understanding yorkshire and The Humber unemployment rate in England
This indicator quantifies the proportion of economically active residents aged sixteen to sixty-four within Yorkshire and The Humber who are without a paid job, available to start work within a fortnight, and actively seeking employment. Derived from household surveys covering the United Kingdom, the numerator captures individuals meeting standard international definitions of joblessness, while the denominator comprises the total labour force rather than the entire resident population. It differs from sibling rows by isolating job seekers in this specific northern English region, enabling comparisons with other administrative territories and the national average.
Interpreting this percentage requires caution regarding sample sizes, which are smaller at the regional level than for the whole country, leading to wider confidence intervals and potential volatility. Analysts should rely on rolling quarterly averages rather than single-month estimates to smooth out sampling noise and seasonal hiring patterns. When benchmarking against administrative claimant counts, remember that survey-based unemployment measures people searching for work regardless of benefit eligibility, meaning jobless totals will diverge from counts of benefit recipients.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does this regional unemployment metric fluctuate more than the national total?
- Sample sizes for individual regions are smaller than the UK-wide sample, resulting in higher sampling variability and wider confidence intervals from month to month.
- Does this series count everyone who does not have a job in Yorkshire and The Humber?
- No, it excludes economically inactive individuals such as full-time students, retirees, and those long-term sick who are not actively seeking or available for work.
- How does this rate relate to the claimant count for the same region?
- The unemployment rate comes from household interviews measuring active job search, whereas the claimant count measures people enrolled in specific unemployment-related welfare benefits.