Employment: residence-based
The residence-based employment figures show the estimated number of people who are employed according to where they live. These figures include the number of people aged 16 and above who are employees or are self-employed, and the total number in employment. The proportion of people aged 16-64 (the employment rate) in each of these categories is also included in these figures.
A related employment measure, workplace-based employment, measures the number of jobs by workplace. Since jobs can be shared between employees and people can hold multiple jobs, residence-based employment figures measure the employment levels in the population, while work-based employment figures measure the total workforce jobs.
Local authority districts estimates of residence-based employment are highly volatile and uncertain due to small sample sizes. Model-based estimates of unemployment provide better estimates for lower-level geographies of the number of people who are not in employment and are actively looking for work.
The latest figures are for the 12-month period ending June 2025.
Key figures
- In Lancashire-12, 77.5% (563,900) of people aged 16 to 64 were in employment (UK = 75.4%).
- The majority of people aged 16 to 64 were categorised as employees (69.0%) in Lancashire-12. This was higher than the UK figure (65.7%).
- The proportion of self-employed (8.5%) in Lancashire-12 was similar to the UK figure (9.5%).
- Compared to the previous year, the total employment rate was similar in Lancashire-12 (75.7% in the 12-month period ending June 2024). Total employment in the UK also remained at a similar level (75.3% in the previous 12-month period).
- Most people in employment in Lancashire-12 worked in full-time roles (78.5%).
- The private sector (76.2%) accounted for the majority of employment in Lancashire-12.
Recent trends in employment
The total employment rate in Lancashire-12 for the 12-month period ending June 2025 (77.5%) was similar to the same period in 2020 (77.1%). This was a recovery from the fall over recent years following the covid-19 pandemic, with the total employment rate now significantly higher than in 2022 (71.9%).
Local trends are similar to the national picture. The total employment rate dropped sharply in the UK from the 12-month period ending June 2020 (75.8% - the highest figure in the available data) to 74.3% for the same period in 2021. This was an estimated decrease of 621,500 people aged 16 and over in employment in the UK.
The drop in the employment rate following the pandemic was largely driven by a fall in the number of self-employed people. In Lancashire-12, self-employed workers decreased from 11.9% (UK = 10.7%) in the 12-month period ending June 2020 following the covid-19 pandemic to 7.3% (9.1%) in 2024. While there is uncertainty in the estimates, the most recent figures suggest that the number of self-employed workers may now be starting to recover.
Source: Annual population survey (APS) from the Office for National Statistics, via the National On-line Manpower Information System (Nomisweb).
Things you need to know about the data
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes estimates of employment based on the annual population survey (APS) on a quarterly basis, covering a 12-month period. The APS dataset is produced by combining data taken from the labour force survey (LFS) with a sample boost to improve data quality. More details on the APS methodology information can be found on the ONS website.
The APS definition of employment includes people aged 16 or over who did one hour or more of paid work per week, have a job that they were temporarily away from (for example, because they were on holiday or off sick), are on government-supported training and employment programmes or are doing unpaid family work (working in a family business in an unpaid role).
The largest two categories within employment are employees and self-employed people. Employees are defined as people who are in employment and paid a wage by an employer for the work that they do (including both permanent and temporary employees). The self-employed are defined as people who regard themselves as self-employed (work for themselves as their main employment), whether or not they have employees.
The figures include a breakdown of working hours (part-time is defined as working 30 hours per week or less) and sector of employment (private or public sector).
Data availability
Employment data covering 12-month periods and 3-month periods are published quarterly at different geographic levels. National and regional headline employment figures that are reported each month in the media differ from the 12-month figures. The 12-month figures also lag the quarterly figures by two to five months.
The labour force survey (LFS) publishes quarterly employment data at the regional and national level only. The annual population survey (APS) combines the previous four quarters of employment data from the LFS with a sample boost to produce the 12-month dataset.
Limitations
Despite the large sample size of the annual population survey (APS) figures, there are gaps in district-level data due to estimates and confidence intervals may be either suppressed, unreliable or very wide due to small sample sizes. Figures for higher level geographies are more reliable and have lower levels of uncertainty. Due to this, local authority level figures are not included here.
Page updated 14 October 2025