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Employment by industry and sex, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.
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TwitterThe wholesale and retail trade sector employed approximately *** million people in the United Kingdom in 2025, the most of any sector in that year. After this sector, administrative, and support service activities were the largest sector employer, at almost ***** million.
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TwitterThe statistic shows the distribution of the workforce across economic sectors in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, 0.99 percent of the workforce were employed in agriculture, 17.77 percent in manufacturing and 81.25 percent in services. The same year, the total UK population amounted to about 81 million people.
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Public sector employment by industry, UK, published quarterly, seasonally adjusted.
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TwitterFor DCMS sector data, please see: Economic Estimates: Employment and APS earnings in DCMS sectors, January 2023 to December 2023
For Digital sector data, please see: Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors and Digital sector, January 2022 to December 2022
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).
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.
26 June 2019
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.
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.
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Workforce jobs by industry, UK countries and English regions, published quarterly, seasonally adjusted.
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Quarterly estimates of UK and regional public sector employment, made up of central government, local government, and public corporations.
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TwitterThese Economic Estimates are used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors 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).They have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and are accredited official statistics.
Separately, DCMS sector Economic Estimates on Employment by Socio-economic background and social mobility are provided and sourced from the ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS). These are official statistics and cover the period July to September for the years 2016 and 2019 to 2023.
Since the publication of these statistics, the ONS has carried out analysis to assess the impact of falling sample sizes on the quality of Annual Population Survey (APS) estimates. Due to the ongoing challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting, the accreditation of ONS statistics based on Annual Population Survey (APS) was temporarily suspended on 9 October 2024. Because of the increased volatility of both Labour Force Survey (LFS) and APS estimates, the ONS advises that estimates produced using these datasets should be treated with additional caution.
ONS statistics based on both the APS and LFS will be considered official statistics in development until further review. We are reviewing the quality of our estimates and will update users about the accreditation of DCMS Employment Economic Estimates if this changes.
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
Tourism is not included as the data is not yet available. The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector and computer games sector.
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.
Between April 2023 to March 2024, there were approximately 4.0 million filled jobs in the included DCMS sectors (excluding tourism), an increase of 408,000 (11.3%) since the 2019 calendar year (pre-pandemic) and 44,000 (1.1%) since the previous equivalent 12 month period. For context, in the economy as a whole, there were 33.9 million jobs, an increase of 357,000 (1.1%) and 152,000 (0.4%) since the previous equivalent 12 month period.
The overall proportion of jobs filled by workers from more advantaged backgrounds in the included DCMS sectors was higher, at 50.6% (19.2% from less advantaged backgrounds, 30.2% with no data available), than for UK filled jobs as a whole at 43.2% (23.4% from less advantaged backgrounds, 33.4% with no data available).
A higher proportion of jobs in the included DCMS sectors were of higher current socio-economic status (85.7%) than for the UK as a whole (71.0%). These trends vary by sector.
First published on 25th September 2024.
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.
DCMS Economic Estimates Employment official statistics, calculated from the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS), were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in June 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/">Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/">Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we me
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TwitterThere were almost 34.2 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to September 2025. In general, the number of people employed has consistently increased, with noticeable dips in employment occurring in 2008 due to the global financial crisis and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Labor market hot streak in 2022 Although there was a sharp increase in the UK's unemployment rate in the aftermath of COVID-19, the UK labor market bounced back forcefully after this sudden shock. By the middle of 2022, the UK's unemployment rate had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, while the number of job vacancies in the UK reached record highs. Wage growth was, by this point, growing at a much slower rate than inflation, which peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022. In the two years since this peak, the UK labor market has cooled slightly, with unemployment reaching 4.4 percent by December 2024 and the number of job vacancies falling to the lowest figures since May 2021. Characteristics of UK workers As of 2024, the majority of UK workers were working in the private sector, at over 27.6 million workers. In the same year, the size of the UK's public sector workforce stood at approximately 6.1 million, with over two million of these people working for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and a further 1.66 million in the public education sector. In the UK's private sector, the industry sector that employed the most people was wholesale and retail, which had a workforce of over 4.9 million people, followed by administrative and support service roles at around 3.1 million.
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39.8% of workers from the Indian ethnic group were in 'professional' jobs in 2021 – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this role.
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Seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted quarterly time series of UK public sector employment, containing the latest estimates.
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TwitterIn the second quarter of 2025, there were approximately 28 million people working in the private sector of the United Kingdom, compared with 21.9 million in 2000.
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Employees and self-employed, by industry sectors and sex, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.
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TwitterFor DCMS sector data, please see: Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors and digital sector, July 2022 to June 2023
For Digital sector data, please see: Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors and digital sector, July 2022 to June 2023
Last update: 22 December 2022
Next update: March 2023
Geographic coverage: UK
In the period July 2021 to June 2022, there were approximately 4,332,000 total filled jobs in the DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism) - representing 12.9% of all UK filled jobs, up from 12.7% in July 2020 to June 2021 and 12.0% in 2019 (pre-pandemic). This reflects that, for DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism), the number of filled jobs have grown faster than the UK overall since July 2020 to June 2021 (3.2% DCMS vs 1.7% UK) and also compared to pre-pandemic (7.9% DCMS vs 0.1% UK).
In percentage terms, within the included DCMS sectors, the Digital sector has seen the largest employment growth since 2019 (pre-pandemic). Over the same period, of the included DCMS sectors, only the Gambling sector and Sport sector have seen declines in employment. Please note, there is substantial overlap between the DCMS sectors.
Although there is wide variation between sectors in terms of demographic breakdowns, overall the proportion of filled jobs held by women was lower in the DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism) (44.1%) than the UK overall (47.9%). DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism) have a slightly smaller share of jobs filled by people from ethnic minority groups (excluding white minorities) or by people with disabilities compared to the UK workforce overall.
The DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates series for employment are National Statistics used to provide an estimate of employment (defined as number of filled jobs) in the DCMS Sectors. This release gives estimates for the period July 2021 to June 2022 and re-weighted estimates for July 2020 to June 2021. The findings are calculated based on the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS).
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
Estimates are not available for the Tourism sector for this release. A definition for each sector is available in the accompanying technical document along with details of methods and data limitations.
This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018) produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA 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 accompanying pre-release access document lists 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.
Responsible analyst: George Ashford
For any queries or feedback, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.
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TwitterIn 2025, there were over **** million filled jobs in human health and social work in the United Kingdom, the most of any industry. In wholesale and retail, there were around *** million filled jobs, making it the second most common industry in terms of employment.
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Annual employee and employment estimates for Great Britain and UK split by two, three and five-digit Standard Industrial Classification: SIC 2007. Results given by full-time or part-time and public or private splits.
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This release contains detailed public sector employment estimates, updated quarterly. For most sources that contribute to these statistics, the employment is reported for a specific date in the quarter. The public sector comprises central government, local government and public corporations as defined for the UK National Accounts. Public sector employment estimates are provided on a headcount and full-time equivalent basis by sector and industry. Regional headcounts are also provided. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: PSE
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TwitterTable showing numbers of people who work in an area by public/private sector and whether full-time or part-time. Data from Business Register Employment Survey (BRES, ONS) Employment is defined as employees plus working proprietors Figures may not add up due to rounding. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand and to one decimal place. For example 2.4 is equal to 2,400 employment, and represents a figure in the range 2,350 - 2,449. Employees - An employee is anyone aged 16 years or over that an organisation directly pays from its payroll(s), in return for carrying out a full-time or part-time job or being on a training scheme. It excludes voluntary workers, self-employed and working owners who are not paid via PAYE Working Proprietors are sole traders, sole proprietors, partners and directors. This does not apply to registered charities Employment = employees + working proprietors Part time - those working 30 hours or less per week Full time - those working more than 30 hours per week The private sector is defined as: Company, Sole Proprietor, Partnership and Non Profit Body or Mutual Association. Public sector employees are those in: Public corporations/ Nationalised Bodies, Central Government and Local Authority. See BRES pages on ONS Website, or download from NOMIS
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TwitterEstimates of employee job numbers in London by industrial classification. The data is taken from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), also used to update the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), the main sampling frame for business surveys conducted by the ONS. Annual figures, rounded to the nearest 100, for employee jobs in 16 industry aggregate groupings. BRES covers firms registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay as You Earn (PAYE) and does not cover the self-employed, government-supported trainees, employees of businesses with turnover too low to need to register for VAT or PAYE nor Her Majesty’s Forces.The next release of BRES data is expected in late September, 2016.
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Percentage change in the employment rate in Primary Urban Areas. Source agency: Communities and Local Government Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: DSO 3.8
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Employment by industry and sex, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.