Headline findings

• Employment in the Digital Sector decreased between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years (between April and the following March), compared to a small amount of employment growth in the UK overall over the same period. 

• Employment in the Digital Sector during the 2023/24 financial year was approximately 1.8 million filled jobs. This suggests that there has been a 3.4% reduction in employment in the Digital Sector (which includes the Telecommunications Sector) since the 2022/23 financial year (1.9 million filled jobs), reducing back to levels seen in the 2021/22 financial year (1.8 million filled jobs). By comparison, employment in the UK overall increased by 0.4% between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. 

• Employment in the Telecommunications Sector was unchanged between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, with approximately 179,000 filled jobs in the sector in both periods.   

• The Digital Sector accounted for a slightly lower proportion of the UK’s filled jobs during the 2023/24 financial year (5.4%) than in the prior 2022/23 financial year (5.6%). The Telecommunications Sector accounted for a similar proportion of the UK’s filled jobs in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years (0.5%).  

• In the 2023/24 financial year, the ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ subsector contributed the majority of filled jobs in the Digital Sector (56.1%). In the 2023/24 financial year, the Telecommunications Sector contributed 9.8% of the filled jobs in the Digital Sector.  

• In the 2023/24 financial year, the proportions of filled jobs held by women (30.2%) and disabled people (14.2%) in the Digital Sector were smaller than the proportions of filled jobs held by these groups in the UK overall (48.0% and 17.4%, respectively).    

• In the 2023/24 financial year, the proportion of filled jobs held by individuals with degree level (or equivalent) education in the Digital Sector (63.5%) was larger than the proportion of filled jobs held by this group in the UK overall (43.6%).   

Released

12 September 2024

About this release

This is a continuation of the ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector’ series, previously produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Responsibility for Digital policy now sits with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Employment estimates within this release are Accredited Official Statistics, used to provide an estimate of the number of filled jobs in the Digital

About

These Economic Estimates are used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors, and separately the Digital Sector, to the UK economy, measured by employment (number of filled jobs). These estimates are calculated based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS).

Content

DCMS Sectors

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Civil Society
• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Gambling
• Sport

Tourism is not included as the data is not yet available. The release also includes estimates for the Audio Visual sector and Computer Games subsector.

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several Cultural Sector industries are simultaneously Creative Industries.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Headline findings:

In the 2022 calendar year, there were approximately 3.9 million filled jobs in the DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism), an increase of 322,000 (8.9%) since 2019 and 85,000 (2.2%) since 2021.

Since pre-pandemic (2019), driving the growth in included DCMS sector employment was the Creative Industries (14.1% increase). Over this period, employment also grew in the Civil Society sector (4.9% increase) and Cultural Sector (2.7% increase), however remained below 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels in the Sports sector (3.8% decrease) and Gambling sector (0.5% decrease).

Although there is wide variation between sectors in terms of demographic breakdowns, overall the proportion of filled jobs held by women, and the proportion of jobs held by disabled people, was lower in the included DCMS Sectors than the UK overall. As of the 2022 calendar year, within the included DCMS Sectors there were 45.3% (vs 48.1% UK workforce overall) of filled jobs held by women and 15.8% (vs 16.4% UK workforce overall) held by disabled people.

Digital Sector:

These statistics also cover the contributions of the following Digital sectors to the UK economy

• Digital Sector
• Of which: Telecoms

Users should note that the Telecoms sector sits wholly within the Digital Sector.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Headline findings:

In the 2022 calendar year, there were approximately 1.9 million filled jobs in the Digital Sector, an increase of 325,000 (20.9%) since 2019 and 73,000 (4.1%) since 2021.

Compared to the UK workforce overall, the Digital Sector has a lesser share of filled jobs held by women or people with a disability. As of 2022, within the Digital Sector there were 29.3% (vs 48.1% UK workforce overall) of filled jobs held by women and 12.5% (vs 16.4% UK workforce overall) held by disabled people.

Released

First published on 13 July 2023.

Pre-release access

A document is provided that contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the <a rel="external" href="ht

About

These Economic Estimates are National Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by employment (number of jobs).

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Civil Society
• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital Sector
• Gambling
• Sport
• Telecoms
• Tourism

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

26 June 2019

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statisticians for this release is Wilmah Deda (020 7211 6376). For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

These statistics relate to the employment of working-age disabled people in the UK.

This release contains annual data to March 2021 and quarterly data to June 2021. It therefore covers the first 12 to 15 months of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Users should be aware of the potential effect of the pandemic and should interpret results, particularly across different time periods, with care.

Official statistics are produced impartially and free from political influence.