Numbers of enterprises and local units produced from a snapshot of the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken on 14 March 2025.

The number of employees working in the construction industry in the United Kingdom has fluctuated significantly between 2019 and 2024. The most recent data shows that there were 2.06 million people working in the construction sector. Most employees in the UK construction industry are men, according to the same source.

The UK has an ageing population. For the Residential Nursing Care industry, this is an opportunity for growth, with demand for more beds expanding. Homes have upped their average weekly fees, contributing to revenue growth. Soaring inflation over the two years through 2023-24 has further raised nursing home fees. However, state involvement has limited growth, which has kept care fees artificially low for many nursing home residents. Residential nursing care revenue is anticipated to climb at a compound annual rate of 2.9% over the five years through 2025-26 to £10.3 billion, including a forecast hike of 1.2% in 2025-26. Weak government funding and wage cost pressures caused by the rising National Living Wage (which climbed to £12.21 in April 2025) have constrained profitability. Labour supply shortages caused by high turnover rates have been of particular concern. According to Skills For Care, the job vacancy rate in 2023-24 in the adult care sector was 8.3%, far above the average rate in the UK economy. That being said, the vacancy rate is declining, mainly thanks to a government-driven recruitment drive to attract overseas workers, which has been helped by reducing visa requirements. Climbing real household disposable income has supported more self-funded residents, aiding residential nursing care. However, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals the percentage of self-funded residents fell from 36.7% in 2019-20 to 34.9% over the year through February 2022. Families were struggling with the rising cost of living, reducing the number of people able to afford private care home costs, which constrained revenue growth. In the year through February 2023, the number of self-funded residents at nursing care homes climbed to 37% of the 372,035 residents. In the two years through 2025-26, interest rates have fallen, stimulating spending on discretionary services like residential nursing homes. Real disposable income is inching up in line with wage costs, which is raising demand for self-funded residents and lifting care homes’ revenue. Over the five years through 2030-31, residential nursing care revenue is estimated to expand at a compound annual rate of 2.3% to £11.5 billion. Robust demand from an ageing population will support industry growth. However, plans for adult social care reforms are to be released in two stages (the first in 2026 and the second in 2028), which has caused greater uncertainty for the sector's future. Staff shortage concerns will continue to plague nursing care.

According a 2019 survey of employers in the hospitality sector in the United Kingdom, ** percent of respondents stated that hard-to-fill vacancies were due to a low number of applicants with the required skills. That was compared to ** percent of respondents that indicated the low number of applicants in general as the main reason for hard-to-fill vacancies in this sector.

In the third quarter of 2025, approximately 210,000 job resignations took place in the United Kingdom, compared with 263,000 in the previous quarter. The number of resignations in Q2 2022 was the highest number taking place in a single quarter during this provided time period, reaching 446,000. In most years, there is a noticeable trend of resignations peaking in the fourth quarter of the year and being at their lowest in the first quarter. There is also a significant fall in people resigning from their jobs after the 2008 financial crisis and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Great Resignation The high number of resignations that took place after COVID-19 hit also occurred in the United States. Throughout 2022, approximately 50 million American workers quit their jobs in a trend dubbed 'The Great Resignation' In both the UK and U.S. the trend corresponded with a very tight labor market. After emerging from the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, UK unemployment declined from 2021 onwards, falling to a low of just 3.6 percent in August 2022. There were also numerous job vacancies, which peaked in May 2024 at 1.3 million, though by the end of 2024, both indicators have returned to more typical levels. Labor market concerns for 2025 One of the main concerns of the UK government regarding the labor market is economic inactivity, in particular the reason for this inactivity, Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people on long-term sick-leave, has increased substantially. At the start of 2020, there were approximately 2.12 million people economically inactive for this reason, with this increasing to almost 2.84 million by the end of 2023, with this declining only slightly to 2.77 million by the end of 2024. It is unclear if there is one overriding factor driving this surge, with possible causes including the prevalence of Long COVID, or the ongoing NHS crisis.

The annual turnover of hotel and similar accommodation enterprises in the United Kingdom increased dramatically from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, the hotel industry generated a turnover of approximately ***** billion British pounds, which denoted an increase of ** percent from the previous year.

In the 3rd quarter of 2025, the employment rate in the United Kingdom was 75 percent, down from 75.3 percent in the previous quarter. After almost dropping to 70.1 percent in 2011, the employment rate in the United Kingdom started to climb at a relatively fast pace, peaking in early 2020. Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, employment declined to 74.6 percent by January 2021. Although not quite at pre-pandemic levels, the employment rate has since recovered. Labor market trouble in 2025? Although unemployment in the UK spiked at 5.3 percent in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, it fell throughout most of 2022, to just 3.6 percent in August 2022. Around that time, the number of job vacancies in the UK was also at quite high levels, reaching a peak of 1.3 million by May 2022. The strong labor market put employees in quite a strong position, perhaps encouraging the high number of resignations that took place around that time. Since 2023, however, the previously hot labor market has cooled, with unemployment reaching 4.6 percent in April 2025 and job vacancies falling to a four-year low of 736,000 in May 2025. Furthermore, the number of employees on UK payrolls has fallen by 227,500 in the first five months of the year, indicating that 2025 will be a tough one for the labor market. Headline economic measures revised in early 2025 Along with the unemployment rate, the UK's inflation rate is also expected to be higher than initially thought in 2025, reaching a rate of 3.2 percent for the year. The economy will also grow at a slower pace of one percent rather than the initial prediction of two percent. Though these negative trends are not expected to continue in the long term, the current government has already expended significant political capital on unpopular decisions, such as the cutting of Winter Fuel Payments to pensioners in 2024. As of June 2025, they are almost as unpopular as the previous government, with a net approval rating of -52 percent.

In the United Kingdom, the revenue of the legal services sector grew more than ********* since 2000, reaching a value of over ** billion British pounds in 2024. Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the legal services sector was not negatively impacted, unlike many others. The revenue registered in 2020, in fact, was a slight increase when compared to 2019, with the growth of the industry being exponential since then.

In 2023, the turnover of restaurants and mobile food services in the United Kingdom amounted to ***** million British pounds. Based on figures reaching back to 2008, this was an all-time high. Number of outlets on the rise While turnover in the restaurants and mobile food industries increased steadily between 2021 and 2023, the number of enterprises in these industries stagnated during these years. Meanwhile, the number of food and drink premises in Great Britain has been on a general trend of decline since 2019. How much money do consumers spend on eating out in the UK? In 2022/23, the average expenditure per person on eating and drinking outside the home in the UK increased over the previous year, going from just under **** British pounds to over ** British pounds. However, this remained way below the level recorded in 2019/20, when it stood at over ** British pounds.

Lush Cosmetics is known for its ethically produced, cruelty-free cosmetics products sold at stores that lure customers with its distinct smell. The brand grew worlwide in size and turnover substantially particularly between 2013 and 2019. With that came a doubling of staff employed at Lush stores, going up to a monthly average of ****** people until the year 2019. Afterwards, these value started going down, probably also because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the sector. However, as of 2024, the average monthly number of Lush's employees added up to ******.   More stores, more locations, more staff
Lush employees are stationed at Lush stores that operate in more than ** countriess worldwide. Currently the UK, where Lush is headquartered, has the highest number of Lush stores in Europe. Lush has a large presence also outside of Europe, with countries like the United States and Japan. As of 2023, Japanese consumers had about ** Lush stores at their disposal. The company's financial year ends on June 30th each year.Cosmetics retail employment in the UK Lush employees in the UK are among the growing number of people employed at retail stores specialized in the sales of cosmetics in the UK. Over the years, retail employment has generally risen and by 2019 reached its peak value at ****** in this sector.

In the financial year 2020/21 ending on ****************, Morrisons generated a turnover of almost **** billion British pounds in the United Kingdom. As a rough reference, the entire grocery market in the UK was estimated to be worth *** billion pounds in 2021.

Morrisons presence in the UK

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc primary business is grocery retail. However, the company owns ** manufacturing sites for fresh food, which makes the company the second largest fresh food manufacturer in the UK. Besides its almost *** stores the company also operated *** petrol stations and was the *** largest petrol station operator in the UK in 2020.

Morrisons’ performance

The company operated at a net profit before exceptionals of *** million pounds. However, net profits were cut in half between 2012 and 2016 and have only slightly recovered since then. The coronavirus pandemic had a profound effect on the grocery market and Morrisons; after struggling with sinking sales in the second half of 2019, the company saw unprecedented growth throughout 2020.

In 2022, the OECD country with the highest reinsurance retention rate (combined life and non-life) was Finland, with **** percent. This means that **** percent of the premiums taken on by Finnish insurers were kept on their books, rather than being passed to reinsurers. By comparison, the OECD average is **** percent, while the United States and the United Kingdom reported retention ratios of **** and **** percent, respectively.

In-person bingo in the United Kingdom generated over 700 million British pounds in turnover from April 2023 to March 2024. Main stage bingo accounted for the highest share in turnover that year, amounting to 481.78 million British pounds. Overall, each segment experienced an increase in turnover compared to the previous period.How profitable is the UK's bingo industry? As well as turnover, another useful financial metric to measure the UK's bingo sector is gross gambling yield (GGY), which refers to the amount retained by operators after the payment of winnings but before the deduction of the operating costs. In 2023/24, the GGY of the British in-person bingo industry totaled over 600 million British pounds. How many bingo premises are there in the UK The number of bingo premises in Great Britain has fluctuated in the past decade. It peaked in 2014 with 710 premises, however, dropped as low as 589 in 2021. Bingo halls have since started to make a comeback, totaling 631 as of 2024.

The number of employees (including both full-time and part-time workers) at HSBC decreased steadily from 2010 to 2024. In 2024, the British banking had roughly 211,000 employees, 96,000 less than in 2010. Despite the decreasing number of employees, HSBC is still the largest employer in the European banking industry. Workforce diversity at the largest UK banks The share of women in the total workforce of four out of the five largest banks in the UK decreased in recent years, albeit slightly. At HSBC, for instance, the share of female employees decreased 0.2 percent between 2018 and 2021. The same tendency can be seen at Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, and Standard Chartered. The share of women in senior and leadership positions, however, has increased. At HSBC, there were almost four percent more women in senior leadership positions in 2021 than in 2018. HSBC – additional information HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) was founded in 1865 in order to facilitate trade between Asia and the West. Today, HSBC has expanded its services to different markets, establishing a global presence. HSBC has the highest market capitalization amongst all European banks. As of December 2024, the British bank was ranked 10th in the leading ten banks by market cap, with a market capitalization of almost 177 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2025, there were approximately 5.7 million private businesses operating in the United Kingdom, an increase when compared with the previous year, but down from a peak of 5.98 million businesses reported in 2020. There has been a net increase of around 2.2 million business enterprises since 2000, when there were 3.47 million. During the provided time period, the largest annual rise in the number of businesses occurred between 2013 and 2014, which saw a net increase of approximately 340,000 private enterprises. Employment in the UK Of the almost 34 million people employed in the UK in 2025 almost 28 million are employed in the private sector, highlighting their key role in the UK economy. Additionally, a significant share of the UK workforce are employed by around 4,000 large companies which employ over 500 people. In 2024, large companies employed over 9.65 million people, despite only composing a fraction of the total number of UK private enterprises. During the same time period, the UK public sector employed around 6.1million people, approximately 17.9 percent of the workforce. Retail and wholesale dominate Over 4.9 million people were employed in retail and wholesale in the UK in 2024, the most of any sector. After the retail sector, administrative, and support service businesses were the next biggest employer, at just over 3.09 million people. Retail and wholesale enterprises were also responsible for the highest combined turnover of UK businesses, at more than 1.8 trillion British pounds. The sector with the most enterprises, was the construction sector with over 870,000 enterprises belonging to this industry in 2024.

Unilever is a multi-national consumer goods company that produces food, beverages, cleaning agents and beauty and personal care products. As of 2024, the company employed a total of approximately ******* people around the world. The number of Unilever employees has fallen over the past number of years and are significantly lower than in 2003, when the company’s workforce was above *******. Unilever Unilever began in 1929 as a merger between a margarine producer and a soap maker. Today, Unilever boasts over 400 brands in the food and refreshments, personal care, and home care markets. Some of the company’s most recognizable brands are Knorr, Dove, Axe, and Lipton. Unilever is one of the leading fast-moving consumer goods companies in the world. Nestlé, Procter & Gamble (P&G), and PepsiCo are other leading companies in this area. Unilever’s key markets A large portion of Unilever’s revenue is generated from personal and household care product sales. Unilever had the second highest sales of any company operating in this sector. P&G, one of Unilver’s biggest rivals, was the only household/personal care company to outsell Unilever that year. The food and beverage industry is Unilever’s other key market. The beverage market is quite segmented and highly competitive, as such Unilever ranks lower on the list of the world's leading beverage companies . The fiscal year end of the company is December, 31st.