Standing view · labour_market · Horsham
improving, held with strong confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-08.
The job market in Horsham has been getting stronger, and the view is held strongly. Working households with dependent children numbered 22,900 in 2025, recorded as favourable against the usual pattern for its year, and those aged 16-64 who are economically inactive was 9.5 in the year to March 2026, also favourable. The claimant count was 1,695 in May 2026 and claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 1.9 in the same month, both favourable, against counts of 1,770 in February 2026 and 1,775 in March, both unfavourable. All households numbered 48,100 in 2025.
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 Horsham. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Working households, dependent children | 2025 | improving |
| Claimant count | 2026-02 | deteriorating |
| % who are economically inactive - aged 16-64 | 2026-03 | improving |
| Claimant count | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2026-05 | improving |
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2026-05 | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| All households, households | 2025 | rising |