Between 1974 and 1 April 2009, County Durham was governed as a two-tier non-metropolitan county, with a county council and district councils. The original eight districts were Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Durham (city), Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley.[7] In 1997 Darlington was removed from the non-metropolitan county and became a separate unitary authority.[8] In 2009 the remaining districts were abolished and replaced by a single district covering the non-metropolitan county, with Durham County Council as the sole local authority.[9]
The main industries where people in County Durham work are retail, health and social work, and manufacturing.[10]: 54 The three largest industry groups[i] for jobs based in the district are education, health, and manufacturing,[10]: 57 while the three largest for businesses[ii] are construction, retail, and professional, scientific, and technical services.[10]: 58
Durham LEA has a comprehensive school system with 36 state secondary schools (not including sixth form colleges) and five independent schools (four in Durham and one in Barnard Castle). Easington district has the largest school population by year, and Teesdale has the smallest with two schools. Only one school in Easington and Derwentside districts have sixth forms, with about half the schools in the other districts having sixth forms.[citation needed]