Economy
| Oldham compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK Census | Oldham | Greater Manchester | England |
| Population of working age | 152,602 | 1,805,315 | 35,532,091 |
| Full-time employment | 40.7% | 40.3% | 40.8% |
| Part-time employment | 11.6% | 11.3% | 11.8% |
| Self employed | 6.8% | 6.7% | 8.3% |
| Unemployed | 3.7% | 3.5% | 3.3% |
| Retired | 13.0% | 13.0% | 13.5% |
The average gross weekly income in the borough of Oldham is £297; not only is this below the national average but it is the lowest of Greater Manchester's ten boroughs. Environmental technologies and life science industries have been identified as growth industries in Greater Manchester and are concentrated in Oldham as well as Bolton, Manchester, and Tameside. Out of the ten metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester, the average house prices in Oldham are seventh highest, 15% below the average for the county.
As of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Oldham had 152,602 residents aged 16 to 74. Of these people, 2.1% were students with jobs, 3.9% students without jobs, 6.7% looking after home or family, 7.7% permanently sick or disabled and 3.8% economically inactive for other reasons.
In 2001, of 92,777 residents of Oldham in employment, the industry of employment was 20.4% retail and wholesale, 20.3% manufacturing, 10.7% health and social work, 9.2% property and business services, 7.5% education, 7.1% construction, 6.7% transport and communications, 5.0% public administration and defence, 4.6% hotels and restaurants, 3.6% finance, 0.8% energy and water supply, 0.5% agriculture, and 3.7% other. This was roughly in line with national figures, although the proportion of jobs in agriculture was below the national average of 1.5% and the rates of people working in the areas of finance and property were below the national averages of 4.8% and 13.2 respectively; the proportion of people working in retail and wholesale was above the national average of 16.7%, and much higher than the national average of 14.8% for people working in manufacturing.
Read more about this topic: Metropolitan Borough Of Oldham
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