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London dominates UK jobs growth over past decade

One in three new jobs created in the UK over the past decade has been in London, analysis shows.

Employment has been rising across the country but by far the strongest growth has been in the capital, according to official employment statistics.

Labour said its proposals would rebalance the economy away from south-east England.

The UK Government said it was committed to boosting local growth outside of London.

The BBC's Shared Data Unit analysed official labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 2007-2017. It found:

  • London's job creation rate outstrips its high population growth. Of the 2.7 million new jobs, almost 950,000, or 35%, were created in the capital

  • The north-east of England saw the lowest percentage increase in new jobs of any UK region or nation, along with the lowest population increase

  • More than half of jobs in London and the South East are now classed as skilled professional occupations

  • In the north-east of England and Northern Ireland, the proportion of skilled professional jobs drops to 39% and 36% respectively

The unemployment rate (the number of unemployed people as a proportion of all employed and unemployed people) was 4.0%; it has not been lower since December 1974 to February 1975.

There were 8.76 million people aged from 16 to 64 years who were economically inactive (not working and not seeking or available to work), 108,000 more than for February to April 2018 and 16,000 more than for a year earlier.

The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were economically inactive) was 21.2%, higher than for February to April 2018 (21.0%) but unchanged compared with a year earlier.

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