The Datum Report

Standing view · labour_market · Oadby and Wigston

The job market in Oadby and Wigston has been weakening.

deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-07.

The employment rate in Oadby and Wigston fell to 77.1% in the year to March 2026 and economic inactivity rose from 17.4% in the year to December 2025 to 21.5%. The modelled unemployment rate rose to 3.9% and the claimant count to 1,115 in March 2026. The number of working households improved to 11,200 in 2025, out of 16,900 households in total. Five measures from three producers moved unfavourably and one favourably.

How this was decided

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 Oadby and Wigston. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 6 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Working households, households2025improving
% who are economically inactive - aged 16-642025-12deteriorating
Employment rate - aged 16-642026-03deteriorating
% who are economically inactive - aged 16-642026-03deteriorating
Claimant count2026-03deteriorating
Unemployment rate (model based)2026-03deteriorating

Also published on this topic, but not counted

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.

MeasurePeriodSeries
All households, households2025 rising