Labour market statistics

The latest summary claimant count and unemployment statistics for the City and County of Swansea are:

Claimant Count total* (9 October 2025): 5,220; rate: 3.4%

Change (month): +155 (+3.1%); (year): -160 (-3.0%).

Unemployment estimate** (survey year to June 2025): 6,900; rate: 5.9%  

Change (year): +2,700 (+64.3%).  95% confidence interval (year to Jun-25): +/-1,900 (people); +/-1.7% (rate).

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Nomis.

This page also contains tables and graphs showing claimant unemployment trends during the last two and 24 years for Swansea, Wales and the UK; plus local and national trends in the wider survey-based measure of unemployment (including the model-based estimates for Swansea).

Further local and national labour market and economic data is also available in the Swansea Economic Profile.  If you have any further enquiries regarding local labour market and economic statistics, please contact us.

Notes

* The Claimant Count measures the number of people who are receiving a benefit principally for the reason of being unemployed.  From April 2015, the Claimant Count has included all Universal Credit (UC) claimants who are required to search for work, as well as all Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimants.  The claimant rate is expressed as a proportion of the resident working age population, defined as all people aged 16-64. 

A broader span of UC claimants are required to look for work than under JSA.  These claimants have the effect of increasing the Claimant Count and affecting its reliability as an economic indicator.  It no longer has National Statistics status and is labelled as 'official statistics in development' by ONS.

** Model-based estimates of unemployment are based on Annual Population Survey (APS) and Claimant Count data.  The estimate is for the 12-month period prior to the given date.  The rate is the number unemployed divided by the economically active population aged 16 and over. 

ONS has been facing the challenge of falling response rates for household surveys, including the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS).  While the quality of the APS is considered to be robust for national and headline regional estimates, there are concerns with the quality of estimates for local authority geographies.  Therefore, ONS outputs produced using the APS data, including the model-based unemployment estimates, are currently labelled as 'official statistics in development'.