Standing view · labour_market · Worthing
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-08.
The job market in Worthing has been weakening. The claimant count was 2,265 in February 2026, 2,295 in March and 2,275 in August 2026, each recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for its month, with claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 at 3.3 in July also unfavourable. Running the other way, the employment rate for those aged 16-64 was 88.8 in the year to March 2026 and the claimant proportion 3.2 in May, both favourable. Of the inactive in the year to December 2025, 12.8 were retired.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Worthing. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Claimant count | 2026-02 | deteriorating |
| Employment rate - aged 16-64 | 2026-03 | improving |
| Claimant count | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2026-05 | improving |
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2026-07 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2026-08 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| % of economically inactive retired | 2025-12 | falling |