Standing view · labour_market · Wigan
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-08.
The job market in Wigan has been getting stronger. The claimant count was 7,515 in July 2026 and claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 3.5 in the same month, both recorded as favourable against the usual pattern for their period, while the count was 7,835 in March 2026 and 7,685 in June, both unfavourable. Of the economically inactive in the year to December 2025, 37.4 were long-term sick, 10.8 looking after family or home and 9.7 retired. Two favourable readings against two, with the July turn carrying the view.
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 Wigan. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Claimant count | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2026-06 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2026-07 | improving |
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2026-07 | improving |
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 long-term sick | 2025-12 | — |
| % of economically inactive looking after family/home | 2025-12 | — |
| % of economically inactive retired | 2025-12 | — |