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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.

Key Messages

  • Men have a higher employment rate than women in Somerset. In April 2025 to March 2026, 80.1% of working-age men (16 to 64) were in employment, compared with 76.6% of women. This gender gap is broadly consistent with patterns seen across the South West and the UK.
  • A smaller proportion of women are self-employed compared to men.4% of working age employed women were self-employed between April 2025 and March 2026, compared with 18.5% of men. Correspondingly, a larger proportion of women were employees (85.0%) than men (81.2%).
  • Men recorded a higher unemployment rate than women. 1% of working age men recorded as unemployed, compared with 1.4% of women. The female figure in particular is significantly lower than the UK average of 4.3% of working age women. Gender-specific unemployment estimates should be interpreted with caution because confidence intervals are relatively wide.
  • A greater proportion of women are economically inactive. In April 2025 to March 2026, the economic inactivity rate was 22.3% for women and 16.4% for men.
  • Long-term sickness or disability is the most common reason for economic inactivity for both men and women. This accounted for 39.8% of inactive men and 26.9% of inactive women in Somerset.
  • The reasons for economic inactivity differ between men and women. Men are more likely to be inactive because they are students, while women are substantially more likely to be inactive due to caring responsibilities (looking after family/home).

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

Implications

Gender differences in labour market participation remain an important feature of Somerset’s workforce.

While the overall patterns are similar to that seen across the South West and UK, differences in employment, unemployment and economic inactivity continue to influence the size and composition of Somerset’s available workforce.

Caring responsibilities remain a significant factor affecting women’s participation in the labour market. This suggests that access to flexible working arrangements, childcare provision and family-friendly employment practices may continue to play an important role in supporting workforce participation.

The higher levels of self-employment amongst men may reflect differences in the industries and occupations in which men and women work.  Understanding these sector-specific employment patterns will be important when considering business growth and entrepreneurship support.

Long-term sickness and disability represent the largest reason for economic inactivity among both genders. Supporting residents with health conditions to remain in, return to, or access employment is therefore likely to remain an important challenge for Somerset’s labour market.

Together, these findings highlight the importance of reducing barriers to labour market participation, supporting flexible pathways into work, and ensuring employment opportunities are accessible to people with different caring responsibilities, health needs and life circumstances.

What Are We Doing?

Somerset Council and its partners are working to reduce barriers to labour market participation and help residents access, remain in, and progress within employment. Many of the gender differences observed in the labour market are linked to factors such as caring responsibilities, health and wellbeing. A range of local services and programmes are therefore available to support residents in overcoming these barriers, developing skills and confidence, and accessing employment and training opportunities.

Supporting Women into Employment

Women’s Work Lab

  • Supports women, particularly mothers returning to work.
  • Provides training, career coaching, mentoring, employability support, and work placements.

Find out more: https://www.womensworklab.co.uk/

Somerset Women’s Centre (The Nelson Trust)

  • Provides women-only service covering mental health, housing, finances, relationships, trauma, education, training and employment.
  • Supports women facing multiple barriers to employment and wellbeing.

Find out more: The Somerset Women’s Centre – Open Mental Health and  https://www.nelsontrust.com/womens-centres/

Women’s Health and Wellbeing

Somerset NHS Menopause Service

  • Specialist menopause support and advice via GP referral.
  • Recognises the impact menopause can have on quality of life and employment.

Find out more: [nhssomerset.nhs.uk]

Mind in Somerset Menopause Wellbeing Group (Yeovil)

  • Peer support group for women experiencing menopause.
  • Provides practical and emotional support.

Find out more: [mindinsome…set.org.uk]

Men’s Health and Wellbeing

Unbreakable Men

  • Men’s mental health and wellbeing programme offering peer support, activities and wellbeing resources across Somerset.

Find out more: https://www.sasp.co.uk/unbreakable-men

Men’s Wellbeing Group (Yeovil)

  • Peer support and wellbeing activities aimed at improving mental wellbeing and reducing social isolation.

Find out more: https://www.mindinsomerset.org.uk/our-services/peer-support/our-services-peer-support-mens-wellbeing-group-yeovil/

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