Households in the South West with at least one person out of work has increased in the last year. So-called "workless households" – where at least one person aged between 16 and 64 is not employed – stood at 16.3% in the three months to June in the region, up from 15.4% a year ago.
It means 271,000 households in the South West are "workless" – 14,000 higher than a year earlier. But the figures reveal a changing picture in the west of England in the last five years.
The figures for 2013 were lower than the peak in 2011, when at least one person of working age was without a job in 301,000 households in the South West, or a rate of 17.7%. There were also wild regional variations. In 2013, the North East remains the area with the highest percentage of its households workless, at 23%, with the South East having the lowest – 13%. The UK average was 17.1 %.
According to the Office for National Statistics, nationally the number of workless households has fallen to 4.9 million, the first time it has been below five million since 2008.
Other data showed that the number of children in workless households is 1.6 million, with two-thirds living in single-parent families.
The number of households where no one has ever worked stands at 297,000, down by 43,000 over the past year.
Employment Minister Mark Hoban said: "Helping people off benefits and into work is one of this Government's top priorities, so it's good news that the number of workless households has fallen by more than 425,000 since the coalition took office. By reforming the welfare system to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, and through schemes such as the Work Programme and Youth Contract, we are giving people the support they need to get a job and fulfil their aspirations of looking after themselves and their families."