Standing view · labour_market · Worthing
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-07.
The employment rate in Worthing rose to 88.8% in the year to March 2026, and the proportion of residents aged 16 to 64 claiming eased to 3.2% in May. The claimant count rose to 2,265 in February 2026 and 2,295 in March, and the modelled unemployment rate to 3.2% in the year to December 2025, when 12.8% of the economically inactive were retired. Two favourable readings against three unfavourable ones is why the improvement is not clear-cut.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate (model based) | 2025-12 | deteriorating |
| 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 |
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 |