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Employment & Gender


There are some notable differences between males and females when it comes to labour force data for Somerset, most notably regarding levels of unemployment and self-employment.

The table and charts above compare labour force data for males and females in Somerset, the South West and the UK.

About the data

The economic inactivity rate is higher for females (26%) than it is for males (13.7%) in Somerset, whereas regionally and nationally there is a similar difference. At the UK level, the inactivity rate for males (18.1%) is 7.1 percentage points lower than it is for females (25.2%).

There is a similar pattern for employment rates between males and females at these respective geographies, although the difference within Somerset is notably larger, with a male employment rate of 83.3% compared to a female employment rate of 72.1%.

The latest data as of December 2022 reports there to have been 3,000 unemployed females in Somerset, a rate of 2.6%, compared to 4,800 males and a rate of 3.7%.  The regional unemployment rates were 2.9% for males and 2.5% for females, whilst nationally they were 3.7% for males and 3.5% for females.

There is also a clear disparity between the self-employment rates of males (12%) and females (6.6%) in UK, however Somerset’s self employment rates are fairly balanced Males (12.4%) and Females (10%)

For definitions of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity, please see the separate page on ‘Employment’.

Source: ONS, NOMIS, Annual Population Survey January 2022 – December 2022