page_title: Barrow-in-Furness
section_title: Employment
hierarchical_section_title: Barrow-in-Furness / Economy / Employment
caption_attribution_description: English: Craven House, Barrow-in-Furness
context_page_description: Barrow-in-Furness is a town in Cumbria, North-West England. Historically part of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. At the tip of the Furness peninsula, close to the Lake District, it is bordered by Morecambe Bay, the Duddon Estuary and the Irish Sea. In 2011, Barrow's population was 57,000, making it the second largest urban area in Cumbria after Carlisle. Natives of Barrow, as well as the local dialect, are known as Barrovian.
  In the Middle Ages, Barrow was a small hamlet within the parish of Dalton-in-Furness with Furness Abbey, now on the outskirts of the modern-day town, controlling the local economy before its dissolution in 1537. The iron prospector Henry Schneider arrived in Furness in 1839 and, with other investors, opened the Furness Railway in 1846 to transport iron ore and slate from local mines to the coast. Further hematite deposits were discovered, of sufficient size to develop factories for smelting and exporting steel. For a period of the late 19th century, the Barrow Hematite Steel Company-owned steelworks was the world's largest.
context_section_description: According to the 2011 census, 78.2% of males aged 16–64 and females aged 16–59 in Barrow were economically active. This figure is higher than the North West and England averages. 73.8% of the population was employed, which again is higher than regional and national averages; the unemployment rate stood at 5.6% which is lower than both averages. Despite this the percentage of people claiming key benefits, which is independent of the unemployment figure, is much higher than both averages at 21.0%, or almost a quarter of all Barrovians of working age. The most common form of benefit received was the Incapacity Benefit, claimed by 11.0% of the adult population, while 4.0% claimed Jobseeker's Allowance, which is on a par with the national average.
  The list below shows how many people were employed in certain sectors according to the 2011 census. Little change occurred between the 2001 and 2011 census; Barrow still has a much higher percentage of workers in the manufacturing sector than the national average, ranking third in 2011 behind Corby, Northamptonshire and Pendle, Lancashire. The percentage working in manufacturing has increased further during the 2010s given thousands of new roles created at the shipyard in association with the Trident renewal programme.
  South West Cumbria has one of the UK's most self-contained workforces, and Barrow itself has the sixth lowest proportion of people who travel outside of the country for work. In 2001, 76% of the working age population in Barrow commuted within 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) for work, when compared to the England average of 54%. A significant proportion of the town's population are employed at the Sellafield nuclear facility.
  Manufacturing: 6,570 employed (21.0% of the town's working population)
  Wholesale and retail trade: 4,728 (15.1%)
  Human health and social work: 4,539 (14.5%)
  Construction: 2,387 (7.6%)
  Education: 2,381 (7.6%)
  Accommodation and food service activities: 1,962 (6.3%)
  Public administration and defence: 1,913 (6.1%)
  Transport and storage: 1,296 (4.1%)
  Administrative and support service: 1,055 (3.4%)
  Professional, scientific and technical: 1,000 (3.2%)
  Information and communication: 496 (1.6%)
  Financial and insurance: 492 (1.6%)
  Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply: 441 (1.4%)
  Water supply: 264 (0.8%)
  Real estate: 221 (0.7%)
  Mining and quarrying: 165 (0.5%)
  Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 122 (0.4%)
  Other: 1,225 (3.9%)
caption: Craven House is headquarters of James Fisher & Sons, the only Barrow company on the London Stock Exchange
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