Economic statistics

• Oxford is home to around 4,000 businesses providing 120,000 jobs. 

• The city has a large number of people employed in universities and the public sector, but also has significant jobs in other sectors including publishing, tourism, hospitality and a growing hi-tech sector fuelled by the highly-qualified workforce.  

• There is a high level of commuting in to the city, with about half of Oxford's workforce living outside its boundary.

• Oxford is the sixth most visited city in the UK by international visitors and is the tourism gateway to the rest of Oxfordshire.  We attract approximately 9.5 million visitors per year, generating £770 million of income for local Oxford businesses.

• In common with the rest of the UK, there was a sharp increase in unemployment as a result of the 2008 recession.  The number of people claiming unemployment benefit (Jobseeker's Allowance or JSA) rose from 1,600 in October 2008 to a peak of nearly 3,000 in May 2009.  Recently there has been a welcome fall in the number of claimants, though it is still well above the pre-recession average.

• The rise in the number of young people claiming JSA has not been as sharp as in other parts of the country.

• The number of people unemployed is different to the number of people claiming JSA  - as some unemployed people choose not to claim or are not eligible to claim.  The most recent estimate of Oxford's unemployment rate is 5.7% for 2012, below the national average of 7.8%.

Publications

 Oxford Economic Narrative (July 2012) (566kB PDF)

Oxfordshire's top 100 employers, Oxford Times (March 2013; 2.24MB PDF)

A welcome fall in unemployment claims, but a long way to go (October 2012 chart; 145kB PDF)

 Medium-sized business most likely to be growing - (May 2012 chart; 41kB PDF)

 Oxford's importance goes beyond its size (February 2012 chart; 107kB PDF)

 Youth unemployment (October 2011 chart; 94kB PDF)

 Prospects for Oxford's economy in an era of public spending cuts (March 2011; 441kB PDF)

Data

Jobseeker's Allowance claims in Oxford and selected cities, 2009 to 2013 (80kB XLS)

Latest unemployment estimate for Oxford (via Nomis; 10kB XLS)

Businesses in Oxford by employment size, 2012 (24 kB PDF)

Further links

Nomis publishes a profile of Oxford's labour market which contains the most comprehensive and up to date statistics.

Latest figures on Jobseeker's Allowance claimants (external link to Nomis website)

Latest figures on employment and unemployment (external link to Nomis website)

You may be interested in background reports which were written to support the development of the City Council's Core Strategy.

For more details of Oxfordshire's economic profile you can visit the Oxfordshire LEP website.

Information and research about tourism in the county on the Visit Oxfordshire website

Page last reviewed 14 May 2013