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Occupation and Earnings - April 2014
Published: June 2014
- Economic Factsheet: Occupation and Earnings April 2014
Download this factsheet as a PDF
Occupational structure (December 2013)
% of all people in employment by occupation (Green = higher than UK, Red = lower than UK, Amber = Equal to UK)
| Area | Somerset | Mendip | Sedgemoor | South Somerset | Taunton Deane | West Somerset | Heart of the South West LEP | UK |
| Managers, directors and senior officials | 9.8 | 7.6 | 10.2 | 12.6 | 5.6 | 16.5 | 10.0 | 10.1 |
| Professional | 12.0 | 14.7 | 12.5 | 9.7 | 13.8 | N/A | 14.5 | 19.7 |
| Associate professional & technical | 12.0 | 13.9 | 8.5 | 12.6 | 16.4 | N/A | 11.9 | 13.9 |
| Admin & secretarial | 10.3 | 7.1 | 16.2 | 5.7 | 13.5 | 11.0 | 10.5 | 10.8 |
| Skilled trades | 15.3 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 16.9 | 12.1 | 19.8 | 14.8 | 10.7 |
| Caring, leisure & other service | 11.8 | 12.6 | 10.6 | 9.3 | 11.5 | 30.4 | 10.5 | 9.1 |
| Sales & customer service | 8.9 | 9.9 | 7.1 | 10.1 | 9.2 | N/A | 8.5 | 7.9 |
| Process, plant & machine operatives | 6.7 | 7.1 | 7.9 | 6.5 | 6.9 | N/A | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| Elementary occupations | 12.9 | 13.0 | 11.1 | 15.9 | 11.1 | 10.7 | 12.9 | 10.7 |
Source: Annual Population Survey, NOMIS 2014 (*Some data unavailable due to small sample size)
The majority of people in Somerset (15.3%) are employed in skilled trades, compared to 10.7% nationally. The professional occupation group employs the most in the UK with 19.7% but only 12% of people in Somerset. The proportion of people employed in profession occupations in Somerset fell by 6.2% between 2012 and 2013. Managers, directors and senior officials are well represented in South Somerset and West Somerset compared to the UK as a whole.
Public sector employment (December 2013)
% of people in employment who work in the public sector
|
Area |
% Public Sector Dec 2007 |
% Public Sector Dec 2013 |
Change 2007-2013 |
|
Somerset |
19.0% |
20.0% |
1.0% |
|
Mendip |
15.0% |
16.7% |
1.7% |
|
Sedgemoor |
16.7% |
20.0% |
3.3% |
|
South Somerset |
17.9% |
15.1% |
-2.8% |
|
Taunton Deane |
27.6% |
27.8% |
0.2% |
|
West Somerset* |
16.9% |
29.5% |
12.6% |
|
Heart of the South West LEP |
24.1% |
23.1% |
-1.0% |
|
UK |
23.9% |
23.4% |
-0.5% |
Source: Annual Population Survey, NOMIS 2014. *Estimate and confidence interval unreliable since the group sample size is small.
Somerset has a slightly smaller proportion of people employed in the public sector than the UK and Heart of the South West area; 20% compared to 23.4% and 23.1% respectively.
Within the County there are concentrations of public sector employment in Taunton Deane (27.8%) and West Somerset (29.5%).
Public sector employment in Somerset peaked at 24.6% of the workforce in 2009. Since then, the number of people employed in the public sector in the County has decreased from 60,400 to 49,900 (-17.4%).
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), NOMIS 2013 (updated annually). Figures not available for West Somerset due to statistical unreliability. ASHE data is not produced for LEP areas.
Average earnings in Somerset consistently lag behind the UK level, with a deficit of 8.1% in 2013. Mendip has the highest median earnings in the County (£25,421) and Taunton Deane has the lowest (£23,256). The median is the value below which 50% of employees’ earnings fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influenced less by extreme values and because of the skewed distribution of earnings data.
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