You are here: Home: Council and democracy: Statistics and census data: Topic reports: Employment and commuting

Employment and commuting

Introduction

Background

Topic Reports are part of Calderdale Council’s set of publications based mainly on the 2001 Census. The first Census data became available in 2003, and the Council has since produced a range of reports and digests summarising this data and presenting it in a format suitable for forward planning purposes.

This Report on Employment and Commuting is the fourth in the series of Topic Reports. The 2001 Census is the key source for this Report, since no other data set compares in both its coverage and the detail it provides. Much of the Census data used in this Report is taken from the Workplace Origin-Destination Statistics, which link the location of a resident’s home with the location of his / her workplace. This data was the last to be processed and was published in 2005.

In addition to the Census Workplace data, the Report uses some other key sources, including the Annual Business Inquiry (a survey of business employment); the Household Surveys undertaken by the Learning and Skills Council West Yorkshire; and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The report provides the most reliable and comprehensive data available, and is as up-to-date as possible.

Purpose of the report

The objective of this Report is to present data on recent changes in the nature of employment and travel to work patterns within Calderdale and amongst Calderdale’s population. In particular, it is intended that this will assist, first, in a better understanding of Calderdale’s position in the local and regional labour markets; and second, that it will provide a background for analysis of the dynamics behind commuting into and out of Calderdale, and the implications that this has for traffic and transport.

Report structure

There is an enormous amount of data on employment that is available, at different geographies and dates, changing classifications, and variable reliability.

It is recognised that readers will have different levels of information needs and for this reason most of the detailed data is presented in Appendices. The structure of the remainder of the report is as follows:

1: Overview of employment trends

This section provides a brief overview of the main developments in employment, looking both at the employment of Calderdale residents and at employment/jobs located in Calderdale.

2: Commuting

This section looks at changes in commuting, in particular between the 1991 and 2001 Census. It then examines related topics such as distance travelled to work and numbers working from home. It also provides a profile of in-commuters and outcommuters in terms of age, gender, industrial sector, occupation and qualifications, and compares commuters with the profile of Calderdale residents working within Calderdale.

3: Area profiles

For the purposes of the analysis of employment and commuting, Calderdale has been split into eight areas. For each, a brief profile is provided that includes a map of in- and out-commuting, and charts showing industrial sector of employment, social composition, and household income.

Appendices

Appendix A: Employment information 
Appendix B: Area profile data
Appendix C: Data sources
Appendix D: Technical Note: Adjustments to the Data

The key points of each section of the report are given in the links. The full report is available for download:

Employment and Commuting in Calderdale [PDF file 1857KB]|

This is a long report and may take some time to download, so we have also provided pdfs of the different parts of the report in the relevant pages.

back to top

Executive summary

The nature of employment is changing along with traditional relationships between where people live and where they work. These developments are especially relevant in Calderdale, which has a strategic location between the fast developing conurbations of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.

This report examines the latest information about how employment and travel to work patterns have changed in recent years. These trends are of great importance as they directly impact on the work prospects of residents, demand for housing and employment land, and transportation requirements.

The report reveals significant changes in the nature of employment within the district and for its residents, as well as the increasing extent of the labour market interrelationships between the district, neighbouring areas and regional centres. It also highlights the differences between different parts of the district and in the levels of economic self containment.

Employment changes

• total employment in Calderdale has recovered strongly over the last decade or so, and growth has been particularly marked in the three years up to 2004. These developments are reversing the long term contraction of jobs in the district. The number of district residents in employment also rose by 3% in the decade up to 2001
• the sectoral shift in the types of jobs in the local economy has continued along historic and national trends – the manufacturing sector now accounts for under a quarter of jobs (although this is still well above the national average) whilst employment in finance and business services has increased sharply and is now equal in size to manufacturing
• as well as sectoral changes in employment, the nature of jobs has also seen significant developments with a gradual shift from full-time to part-time working, particularly amongst men. Part-time employment now makes up almost a quarter of the employment of district residents, and among women full-time employment is lower than it was a decade previously
• the gender split between employment in different sectors and between full-time and part-time employment has not changed in the last ten years. Manufacturing employment in Calderdale remains male dominated and over 90% of employees work full-time; in contrast, in Banking & Finance and Administration, women make up a large share of the employment and over one third of jobs are part-time
• weekly and hourly pay rates for people working in Calderdale have been consistently well above the regional average and amongst the highest in West Yorkshire since 2001, although below the national average 2the qualification level of Calderdale residents is generally comparable to, or above, other West Yorkshire districts on most measures. However, it is below the national average and around one in three have no qualifications at all. Figures in the last three years show a decline in those educated to NVQ 2 or 3, but an increase of those at NVQ4 or above.

Travel to Work and Commuting Patterns

• Calderdale’s location makes it a part of two sub-regional conurbations that have dynamic and fast developing economies. Travel patterns have also been influenced by the growth in car ownership as well as the district’s good communication links
• around 45,000 people travel into or out of the district to work each day (a rise of one fifth in the decade to 2001)
• over one quarter of residents who are in employment work outside the district, with 25,000 commuting out of Calderdale daily
• 20,000 jobs in the district are filled by non-residents; thus there is a net balance of 5,000 more movements out of the district than into it each day
• the level of labour market “self-containment” – the proportion of an area’s employed residents who work within that area – shows Calderdale to be more self-contained than Kirklees or Wakefield, but less so than Bradford and Leeds in the decade up to 2001, both outward and inward commuting rose by over 20% as Calderdale became increasingly part of sub-regional and inter-regional labour markets. The scale of these increases is far greater than changes in the growth in employment
• more people are also working from home or have no fixed place of work – now 12% of those in employment
• people also travel further to work. Whereas only 18% of residents in employment travelled more than 10 kms to work in 1991, by 2001 this had risen to 25%, of which 11% travelled more than 20 kms. Conversely the proportion of residents working within 5 kms of their home fell from 61% to 53% in the same period
• Calderdale continues to experience a net outflow of commuters to Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield whilst there is a net inflow from Kirklees. Short distance movements have increased less rapidly than longer distance movements, for example to Leeds, Wakefield and Manchester
• notwithstanding the increase in commuting trips, the gap between inward and outward movements is getting smaller between Calderdale and most neighbouring areas
• car usage for employment purposes is 20% higher amongst people commuting into or out of Calderdale than it is among residents working within the District. In 2001 6% of out-commuters used the train
• the increase in car usage among Calderdale residents travelling to work reflects a shift away from buses (down 5% since 1991); in 2001, 15% of residents working in the district used a bus, twice the level of out-commuters
• the Finance and Related Business sector has the highest propensity for in-commuting, with 32% of employment in this sector accounted for by in-commuters. With respect to out-commuting, around one third of residents working in the Transport & Communications, Finance and Public Administration, Education, Health & Social Work sectors work outside Calderdale
• commuting is highest amongst males and those in Managerial, Professional and Technical occupations
• overall, between 1991 and 2001 there has been an increase of 3,000 daily trips by car by district residents travelling to work. This does not take account of those who travel through the district or trips for leisure, shopping and educational purposes
• weekday traffic flows in and out of Calderdale during the morning and evening rush hours in the four years to 2003 show a 4 to 5% increase in inward movements and small decrease in outward movements. This may reflect the above shifts between different types of transport and the spread of journey times.

Area profiles

• a key variation in employment and commuting patterns in different parts of the district is the proportion of local jobs filled by residents of the same area. This ranges from 15% in Halifax and 26% in Brighouse up to 46% in the Upper Valley and 59% in Todmorden
• the proportion of residents commuting out from Calderdale varies from around 40% in North East Calderdale and Brighouse, down to 21-22% in Halifax and North Halifax
• only two areas have a net inflow of commuters from outside Calderdale – Halifax (over 3,000, mainly from other parts of West Yorkshire) and Brighouse (with the main net inflow coming from Huddersfield)
• there is substantial out-commuting from the Upper Valley and Todmorden to Greater Manchester, and from Brighouse and Elland into Kirklees. Most areas have significant numbers commuting to Leeds, whilst 20% of employed residents in North East Calderdale work in Brighouse
• the Manufacturing sector is particularly important in Brighouse, the Upper Valley and North East Calderdale; employment in Banking and Finance is dominated by Halifax (where it accounts for 34% of all employment), whilst employment in Public Administration, Education & Health is highest in Halifax, North Halifax and Todmorden
• Managers and Professionals (Social Grades A/B) have above average representation in the Upper Valley and North East Calderdale, whilst North Halifax has the lowest proportion in these Grades. Conversely, the proportion of residents in Grades C2 (Skilled Manual) and D (Semi-skilled and Unskilled Manual) is highest in North Halifax and lowest in North East Calderdale and the Upper Valley
• the median household income is highest in North East Calderdale, where it is £3,500 above the Calderdale figure; in this area, 30% of households have an income in excess of £40,000
• North Halifax has a median income substantially below the Calderdale median, and 30% of households have an income below £15,000 per annum. Halifax also has average incomes somewhat below the District figure.

For further information, please contact:

• Name:
• Jenny Eaglestone
• E-mail:
• researchandinfo@calderdale.gov.uk
• Telephone:
• 01422 393129.

back to top