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Workforce Summary

Staffordshire has a 16+ economically active workforce of 422,200. The working age economically active population is made up of 55% males and 45% females.

Of the working age economically active supply in Staffordshire, around 95.4% are in employment, whilst 4.6% are unemployed. Staffordshire has a higher employment rate than Great Britain (94.7%) and the West Midlands Region (93.9%). In Staffordshire County, 87.8% of those in employment are employees and 11.5% self employed. The proportion self employed in Staffordshire is below the national level (12.5%), but similar to the regional level (11.4%).

The largest occupational group in Staffordshire is managers & senior officials accounting for 14.1% of employed Staffordshire residents. The associate professional & technical occupations, administrative & secretarial occupations and professional occupations are also large occupation groups with 13.3%, 13.3% and 12.3% respectively. The smallest occupational groups are personal service and sales & customer service occupations accounting for 7.3% and 7.9% respectively.
When comparing this to the proportions for Great Britain as a whole, Staffordshire has a lower proportion employed within managers & senior officials, professional occupations, associate professional & technical occupations and personal services.

Staffordshire is a county with a large rural area and established manufacturing centres, known throughout the world for its ceramics and brewing industries. Staffordshire now has a varied business base and some 27,470 firms registered for VAT at the start of 2008.

At the start of 2008, real estate & business activities accounted for 26% of businesses registered for VAT within Staffordshire County. Wholesale, retail & repair and construction also accounted for significant proportions of VAT registered businesses. Compared to the national situation, agriculture, forestry & fishing, manufacturing, construction and transport, storage & communication sectors are particularly strong, whilst financial intermediation, real estate & business activities and public administration & other services are weaker. Over the period 2003 to 2008 Staffordshire County saw a 11.0% increase in the number of VAT registered businesses, slightly lower than the Great Britain average but above that for the West Midlands Region.