Standing view · labour_market · Oadby and Wigston
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-08.
The job market in Oadby and Wigston has been weakening. The employment rate for those aged 16-64 was 77.1 in the year to March 2026, and those aged 16-64 who are economically inactive 17.4 in the year to December 2025 and 21.5 in the year to March 2026, each recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for its period, with the claimant count at 1,115 in March 2026 also unfavourable. Running the other way, working households numbered 11,200 in 2025 and the count was 1,080 in July 2026, both favourable. All households numbered 16,900 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 Oadby and Wigston. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Working households, households | 2025 | improving |
| % who are economically inactive - aged 16-64 | 2025-12 | deteriorating |
| Employment rate - aged 16-64 | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| % who are economically inactive - aged 16-64 | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| All households, households | 2025 | rising |