Unemployment

Published 28 November 2023

Last updated 26 March 2024 - see all updates

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• the overall unemployment rate in 2022 was 4%
• 3% of white people were unemployed in 2022, compared with 6% of people from all other ethnic groups combined
• people from the combined Bangladeshi and Pakistani (9%), Asian ‘other’ (7%) and black (7%) ethnic groups had the highest unemployment rates out of all ethnic groups
• white people had the lowest unemployment rates out of all ethnic groups (3%)
• the unemployment rate for men and women was the same (4%)
• in every ethnic group, 16 to 24 year olds were more likely to be unemployed than any other age group
• out of all regions, Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest unemployment rates for people from the mixed (15%), ‘other’ (15%), and combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi (12%) ethnic groups

Further research

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment levels among ethnic minority groups had been falling (PDF opens in a new window or tab). There was then an increase in unemployment (PDF opens in a new window or tab), with people from ethnic minority backgrounds having a greater chance of being unemployed than white people.

Recent research by the Equality Hub shows that migration and integration are factors that may affect the disparities faced by ethnic minorities in the labour market. The study found generational differences in labour market outcomes within ethnic minority groups, with second generation Bangladeshi men less likely to be unemployed than white British men. Similarly, black African women are less likely to be unemployed than white British women. For Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, there is no evidence of a generational effect – first and second generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi women were more likely to be unemployed compared with white British women, even after controlling for level of education and health.

The reasons for poor labour market outcomes for certain ethnic groups are complex. According to research by the Department for Work and Pensions, some of the disparities might be due to the effects of segregation and cultural attitudes, where women are expected to stay at home and care for younger and older members of the household.

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the number and percentage of people in England, Scotland and Wales who are unemployed. Percentages are worked out using the economically active population (people aged 16 and over who are employed or unemployed).

Someone is classed as unemployed if they:

• are out of work
• are available to start work in the next 2 weeks
• have either been looking for work in the past 4 weeks or have found a job and are waiting to start

Percentages are rounded to whole numbers. Population numbers are rounded to the nearest 100 people, but unemployment rates have been calculated using unrounded data.

Not included in the data

The data does not include estimates based on fewer than:

• 30 survey respondents for data covering all ethnic groups together
• 100 survey respondents for data broken down by ethnicity

This is to protect people’s confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable generalisations.

The ethnic groups used in the data

The data uses the ethnic categories from the 2011 Census.

Data is aggregated for the black, mixed and ‘other’ ethnic groups, which means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole.

Data is shown separately for white British people and all other white people (‘white other’ ethnic group). Separate figures are also shown for 3 different Asian ethnic groups (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi combined, and Asian ‘other’).

Some data is shown only for 2 ethnic groups:

• white – all white ethnic groups, including white minorities
• all other ethnic groups

This is to make sure that estimates are reliable.

People whose ethnicity is not known are included in the figures for ‘All’.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for this data.

The Annual Population Survey updated its ethnicity questions in 2011. As a result, estimates from before and after 2011 may not be consistent, and data for individual ethnic groups in 2011 is not available.

Local authority names and boundaries change over time. The data for local authorities does not use the most recent local authority boundaries for England, Scotland and Wales.

There are separate unemployment figures in the ethnicity pay gap data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in November 2023. The rates by ethnicity may be different to those shown on this page, because:

• the ONS data excludes extreme values that differ from most other data points in a dataset (‘outliers’)
• the datasets use different weighting rules

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:

• interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
• how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied.

In the data file

See Download the data for estimates:

• by region, age group and sex over time for detailed ethnic groups
• by local authority for white and all other ethnic groups combined
• confidence intervals for each ethnic group – read about how we use confidence intervals
• of sample sizes
• rounded to 1 decimal place
• of length of unemployment by age, geography, sex and overtime

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	% of people unemployed	Number of people unemployed
All	4	1,179,600
Asian	6	159,400
Indian	4	41,100
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	9	67,700
Asian other	7	50,500
Black	7	82,100
Mixed	6	33,300
White	3	866,000
White British	3	772,500
White other	4	93,600
Other	6	38,800
Unknown

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• in 2022, 4% of the economically active population (all people aged 16 and over who were employed or unemployed) were unemployed

• 9% of people in the combined Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic group were unemployed – the highest rate out of all ethnic groups

• 7% of people from the black and Asian ‘other’ ethnic groups were unemployed

• 3% of white people were unemployed – the lowest rate out of all ethnic groups

4. By ethnicity (white and other ethnic groups)

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity over time (white and other ethnic groups)

	All		Other ethnic groups		White		Unknown
time	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed	Other ethnic groups % of people unemployed	Other ethnic groups Number of people unemployed	White % of people unemployed	White Number of people unemployed	Unknown % of people unemployed	Unknown Number of people unemployed
2004	5	1,379,000	11	243,300	4	1,133,500	8	2,200
2005	5	1,442,700	11	258,600	4	1,182,500	7	1,700
2006	5	1,598,500	12	303,900	5	1,292,900	9	1,800
2007	5	1,558,700	11	299,100	5	1,258,100	8	1,400
2008	6	1,738,400	11	327,100	5	1,410,400	5	800
2009	8	2,343,300	13	403,300	7	1,937,600	10	2,500
2010	8	2,341,200	13	410,600	7	1,928,200	8	2,400
2011	8	2,476,600
2012	8	2,454,300	14	482,100	7	1,971,400	5	800
2013	8	2,362,500	14	493,300	7	1,867,700	8	1,500
2014	6	1,971,400	11	396,800	6	1,569,500	9	5,100
2015	5	1,675,200	9	363,900	5	1,310,000	3	1,300
2016	5	1,552,000	8	336,400	4	1,214,300	5	1,200
2017	4	1,422,600	8	314,000	4	1,106,100	10	2,400
2018	4	1,360,800	7	298,800	4	1,060,900	4	1,100
2019	4	1,287,300	7	289,900	4	996,900	3	500
2020	5	1,537,500	8	365,700	4	1,171,500	2	400
2021	4	1,450,200	8	362,400	4	1,086,500	6	1,300
2022	4	1,179,600	6	313,600	3	866,000

Data not collected Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity (white and other ethnic groups) Summary

The data shows that:

• the overall unemployment rate was lower in 2022 (4%) than it was in 2004 (5%)

• the rate for people from all other ethnic groups combined was lower in 2022 (6%) than in 2004 (11%)

• the rate for white people was also lower in 2022 (3%) than in 2004 (4%)

5. By ethnicity over time

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity over time

	All		Asian		Asian other		Black		Indian		Mixed		Other		Pakistani, Bangladeshi		White		White British		White other		Unknown
time	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed	Asian % of people unemployed	Asian Number of people unemployed	Asian other % of people unemployed	Asian other Number of people unemployed	Black % of people unemployed	Black Number of people unemployed	Indian % of people unemployed	Indian Number of people unemployed	Mixed % of people unemployed	Mixed Number of people unemployed	Other % of people unemployed	Other Number of people unemployed	Pakistani, Bangladeshi % of people unemployed	Pakistani, Bangladeshi Number of people unemployed	White % of people unemployed	White Number of people unemployed	White British % of people unemployed	White British Number of people unemployed	White other % of people unemployed	White other Number of people unemployed	Unknown % of people unemployed	Unknown Number of people unemployed
2004	5	1,379,000	9	114,400	9	25,600	13	73,200	7	39,800	12	24,000	11	31,700	13	49,100	4	1,133,500	4	1,054,400	6	79,100	8	2,200
2005	5	1,442,700	9	115,300	8	23,000	14	84,600	7	41,600	12	22,200	11	36,400	13	50,800	4	1,182,500	4	1,095,600	6	86,900	7	1,700
2006	5	1,598,500	10	138,000	8	26,000	13	89,600	8	49,300	11	22,700	13	53,500	15	62,800	5	1,292,900	5	1,197,700	5	95,200	9	1,800
2007	5	1,558,700	10	137,800	9	30,800	13	90,000	7	44,300	12	26,700	10	44,700	15	62,800	5	1,258,100	5	1,164,800	5	93,300	8	1,400
2008	6	1,738,400	9	144,300	7	29,300	14	103,900	7	47,100	13	28,300	11	50,700	15	67,900	5	1,410,400	5	1,309,400	5	101,100	5	800
2009	8	2,343,300	11	181,400	9	34,100	18	137,900	9	62,400	14	34,700	12	49,100	17	84,900	7	1,937,600	7	1,804,600	7	133,000	10	2,500
2010	8	2,341,200	11	182,300	9	36,300	16	129,100	8	60,100	15	39,900	13	59,300	16	85,900	7	1,928,200	7	1,806,900	6	121,400	8	2,400
2011	8	2,476,600
2012	8	2,454,300	12	228,100	10	46,000	17	145,700	10	81,100	16	46,300	14	62,000	17	101,000	7	1,971,400	7	1,854,700	6	116,600	5	800
2013	8	2,362,500	12	231,900	9	39,200	17	149,600	9	73,600	16	53,400	13	58,500	18	119,100	7	1,867,700	7	1,746,000	6	121,700	8	1,500
2014	6	1,971,400	9	178,700	8	36,400	15	129,100	6	50,800	13	41,200	10	47,900	14	91,500	6	1,569,500	6	1,450,700	6	118,900	9	5,100
2015	5	1,675,200	8	169,500	7	33,300	12	115,800	7	57,800	11	37,200	9	41,400	12	78,300	5	1,310,000	5	1,200,500	5	109,500	3	1,300
2016	5	1,552,000	7	157,000	6	30,900	10	103,600	5	44,300	11	39,100	7	36,700	11	81,800	4	1,214,300	4	1,108,700	4	105,700	5	1,200
2017	4	1,422,600	7	156,600	6	31,600	9	86,500	6	50,500	7	29,400	8	41,500	10	74,600	4	1,106,100	4	1,004,100	4	102,100	10	2,400
2018	4	1,360,800	6	138,800	6	33,500	9	91,900	4	39,200	7	28,000	8	40,100	8	66,000	4	1,060,900	4	971,400	3	89,500	4	1,100
2019	4	1,287,300	6	135,700	6	34,700	8	87,400	4	37,000	6	25,000	7	41,800	8	64,000	4	996,900	4	911,800	3	85,200	3	500
2020	5	1,537,500	7	168,700	8	49,800	11	123,000	5	54,600	8	38,800	7	35,100	9	64,300	4	1,171,500	4	1,046,400	5	125,100	2	400
2021	4	1,450,200	7	166,600	7	45,000	9	102,200	4	45,100	10	50,100	8	43,500	11	76,600	4	1,086,500	4	991,200	4	95,300	6	1,300
2022	4	1,179,600	6	159,400	7	50,500	7	82,100	4	41,100	6	33,300	6	38,800	9	67,700	3	866,000	3	772,500	4	93,600

Data not collected Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity over time Summary

The data shows that, between 2004 and 2022:

• the unemployment rate went down from 13% to 7% for black people, and from 12% to 6% for people with mixed ethnicity – the largest decreases out of all ethnic groups

• the rate went down from 13% to 9% for people from the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group, and from 11% to 6% for people from the ‘other’ ethnic group

• the rate for white people went down from 4% to 3% – the smallest decrease out all ethnic groups

6. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity and gender

	All		Men		Women
Ethnicity	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed	Men % of people unemployed	Men Number of people unemployed	Women % of people unemployed	Women Number of people unemployed
All	4	1,179,600	4	634,600	4	545,000
Asian	6	159,400	6	84,500	7	74,800
Indian	4	41,100	3	20,000	5	21,100
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	9	67,700	7	35,500	11	32,200
Asian other	7	50,500	8	29,000	6	21,500
Black	7	82,100	6	30,800	8	51,300
Mixed	6	33,300	7	15,800	6	17,500
White	3	866,000	3	486,400	3	379,600
White British	3	772,500	3	452,000	3	320,500
White other	4	93,600	3	34,400	4	59,100
Other	6	38,800	5	17,000	7	21,800

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that in 2022:

• the overall unemployment rate for men and women was the same (4%)

• the unemployment rate was higher for women than men in the Indian, combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi, black, ‘other’ and white ‘other’ ethnic groups

• the gap between men and women was biggest in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group, where 11% of women and 7% of men were unemployed

• among both men and women, white people were the least likely to be unemployed out of all ethnic groups

7. By ethnicity and age

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity and age

	16-24		25-49		50-64		65+		All
Ethnicity	16-24 % of people unemployed	16-24 Number of people unemployed	25-49 % of people unemployed	25-49 Number of people unemployed	50-64 % of people unemployed	50-64 Number of people unemployed	65+ % of people unemployed	65+ Number of people unemployed	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed
All	11	419,000	3	499,000	3	235,400	2	26,200	4	1,179,600
Asian	18	50,100	5	89,800	4	17,800	3	1,600	6	159,400
Indian	12	10,800	3	23,600	3	5,500	4	1,200	4	41,100
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	20	22,500	7	40,900	4	4,100	2	100	9	67,700
Asian other	21	16,700	5	25,300	6	8,200	2	300	7	50,500
Black	20	32,700	5	31,800	6	16,500	5	1,100	7	82,100
Mixed	14	18,900	4	11,300	3	2,800	4	200	6	33,300
White	9	303,200	2	348,300	2	191,300	2	23,200	3	866,000
White British	9	281,800	2	290,500	2	179,000	2	21,100	3	772,500
White other	11	21,300	3	57,900	3	12,300	5	2,100	4	93,600
Other	24	14,200	4	17,700	6	6,900			6	38,800

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity and age Summary

The data shows that:

• the unemployment rate was 11% for 16 to 24 year olds, 3% for 25 to 49 year olds, 3% for 50 to 64 year olds, and 2% for over 65s

• in every ethnic group, 16 to 24 year olds were more likely to be unemployed than any other age group

• among 16 to 24 year olds, white people had the lowest unemployment rate (9%) – people from the ‘other’ ethnic group had the highest unemployment rate (24%) in this age group

• among 25 to 49 year olds, the unemployment rate was highest among people from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (7%) – it was lowest among white people (2%)

• among 50 to 64 year olds, the unemployment rate was highest among the black and Asian ‘other’ ethnic groups (6%) – it was lowest among white people (2%)

• the unemployment rate among over 65s was highest among the black ‘other’ and white ‘other’ ethnic groups (5%), followed by the Indian ethnic group (4%) – it was lowest among white people and the Pakistani and Bangladeshi (2%), however these estimates are based on small sample sizes and are less reliable as a result

8. By ethnicity over time (16 to 24 year olds only)

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of economically active 16 to 24 year olds who were unemployed, by ethnicity over time

	All		Asian		Indian		Pakistani, Bangladeshi		Asian other		Black		Mixed		White		White British		White other		Other
time	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed	Asian % of people unemployed	Asian Number of people unemployed	Indian % of people unemployed	Indian Number of people unemployed	Pakistani, Bangladeshi % of people unemployed	Pakistani, Bangladeshi Number of people unemployed	Asian other % of people unemployed	Asian other Number of people unemployed	Black % of people unemployed	Black Number of people unemployed	Mixed % of people unemployed	Mixed Number of people unemployed	White % of people unemployed	White Number of people unemployed	White British % of people unemployed	White British Number of people unemployed	White other % of people unemployed	White other Number of people unemployed	Other % of people unemployed	Other Number of people unemployed
2004	12	553,800	22	50,200	19	16,600	25	23,600	22	10,000	33	31,300	20	13,900	11	449,000	11	427,100	13	21,900	21	8,400
2005	13	591,300	21	47,900	18	14,600	24	24,800	20	8,600	30	27,000	22	14,200	12	489,800	12	464,500	12	25,300	24	11,600
2006	14	637,900	22	52,200	17	15,200	26	29,400	19	7,500	27	28,200	21	13,600	13	527,700	13	497,400	11	30,300	27	15,400
2007	14	638,900	25	56,900	18	16,100	33	32,100	20	8,700	27	27,000	20	13,800	13	529,000	13	499,200	11	29,800	19	11,600
2008	15	700,200	23	57,200	19	17,000	29	30,200	19	10,000	35	36,000	21	14,900	14	572,400	14	541,900	11	30,400	26	19,300
2009	19	862,000	27	61,700	24	19,300	30	33,000	22	9,400	42	45,000	23	16,100	18	725,100	18	694,500	12	30,600	25	12,600
2010	20	862,400	28	65,300	23	19,800	31	32,800	29	12,700	39	38,800	34	23,100	18	721,100	19	694,200	12	26,800	27	13,500
2011	21	960,200
2012	21	946,200	29	75,700	25	24,900	33	36,700	28	14,100	43	47,500	29	25,400	20	778,400	20	750,800	16	27,600	37	18,900
2013	20	894,200	35	87,100	28	21,400	42	53,500	25	12,200	42	49,400	30	31,200	18	711,500	19	688,300	13	23,200	33	14,600
2014	17	742,100	25	59,400	18	13,000	30	34,600	24	11,800	32	38,500	24	24,200	16	605,000	16	573,400	16	31,700	28	13,000
2015	14	629,600	24	60,900	24	18,500	26	32,500	20	9,900	28	35,400	22	20,600	13	503,700	13	471,800	14	31,900	18	9,100
2016	13	569,600	22	52,500	16	10,400	28	32,800	16	9,300	25	34,900	26	23,300	12	450,500	12	422,100	12	28,400	17	8,400
2017	12	515,200	21	56,100	15	13,500	26	31,700	18	10,900	23	25,500	14	13,600	11	410,100	11	388,700	9	21,400	19	9,200
2018	12	486,100	18	49,700	11	8,700	21	30,600	18	10,500	24	30,500	15	14,900	11	384,300	11	359,000	11	25,300	12	6,600
2019	11	468,300	19	52,700	13	9,800	24	33,300	16	9,600	21	29,000	13	11,000	10	364,800	10	344,200	8	20,600	20	10,800
2020	14	555,900	25	61,100	19	13,900	31	32,200	22	15,000	30	37,300	17	19,500	12	431,400	12	393,700	20	37,700	15	6,700
2021	13	490,000	18	46,900	10	6,400	20	25,800	20	14,700	30	38,900	24	27,300	11	366,000	11	338,500	17	27,400	23	10,800
2022	11	419,000	18	50,100	12	10,800	20	22,500	21	16,700	20	32,700	14	18,900	9	303,200	9	281,800	11	21,300	24	14,200

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity over time (16 to 24 year olds only) Summary

The data shows that:

• in 2022, the unemployment rate among 16 to 24 year olds was 11%

• the unemployment gap between white 16 to 24 year olds and those from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups was 24 percentage points in 2013 – in 2022, the gap had gone down to 11 percentage points

• 2012 had the highest unemployment rates for white (20%) and black (43%) 16 to 24 year olds in the period covered by this data

• between 2021 and 2022, the unemployment rate for black 16 to 24 year olds went down from 30% to 20% – it also went down those from the mixed ethnic group (from 24% to 14%), and for white 16 to 24 year olds (from 11% to 9%)

• between 2021 and 2022, the unemployment rate went down or stayed the same for all ethnic groups except the Indian (up from 10% to 12%), Asian ‘other’ (up from 20% to 21%), and ‘other’ (up from 23% to 24%) groups

9. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2022
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of economically active people who were unemployed, by ethnicity and area

	All		East Midlands		East of England		London		North East		North West		Scotland		South East		South West		Wales		West Midlands		Yorkshire and The Humber
Ethnicity	All % of people unemployed	All Number of people unemployed	East Midlands % of people unemployed	East Midlands Number of people unemployed	East of England % of people unemployed	East of England Number of people unemployed	London % of people unemployed	London Number of people unemployed	North East % of people unemployed	North East Number of people unemployed	North West % of people unemployed	North West Number of people unemployed	Scotland % of people unemployed	Scotland Number of people unemployed	South East % of people unemployed	South East Number of people unemployed	South West % of people unemployed	South West Number of people unemployed	Wales % of people unemployed	Wales Number of people unemployed	West Midlands % of people unemployed	West Midlands Number of people unemployed	Yorkshire and The Humber % of people unemployed	Yorkshire and The Humber Number of people unemployed
All	4	1,179,600	3	68,700	3	89,200	4	224,500	5	57,400	4	146,100	3	94,100	3	148,000	3	74,500	3	45,400	5	135,300	4	96,600
Asian	6	159,400	7	11,900	5	8,800	7	61,100	8	2,600	5	11,700	6	5,900	3	11,000	5	3,900	4	1,400	7	25,600	10	15,700
Indian	4	41,100	4	4,700	1	1,100	4	14,500			4	2,700			2	3,400	2	600			4	6,100	11	4,100
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	9	67,700	5	1,300	10	4,800	9	26,300			7	7,300			4	2,500					8	10,600	12	11,200
Asian other	7	50,500	17	5,900	5	2,900	7	20,300			3	1,600	5	1,900	4	5,100	9	3,300			14	8,900
Black	7	82,100	4	2,500	4	4,000	7	37,600			10	8,300			6	5,400					9	11,400	9	5,300
Mixed	6	33,300			7	4,200	3	5,100			10	4,500			4	2,300	5	1,900			9	4,000	15	7,100
White	3	866,000	3	51,900	2	68,700	4	110,400	5	53,100	4	115,700	3	83,600	3	126,400	3	65,900	3	40,500	4	88,000	3	61,900
White British	3	772,500	3	48,600	2	61,200	3	67,900	5	52,800	4	109,900	3	77,800	3	112,200	3	63,400	3	38,300	4	83,500	3	56,700
White other	4	93,600	2	3,300	3	7,500	5	42,400	1	300	4	5,800	3	5,700	4	14,200	2	2,400	5	2,200	3	4,500	4	5,200
Other	6	38,800			8	3,500	4	10,300			13	5,800			4	2,800					9	6,300	15	6,600

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Unemployment By ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• out of all ethnic groups, white people had the lowest unemployment rates in the East Midlands, North East, Scotland, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber

• out of all regions, Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest unemployment rates for people from the mixed (15%), ‘other’ (15%), Pakistani and Bangladeshi (12%), and Indian (11%) ethnic groups

• the East Midlands had the highest unemployment rate for people from the Asian ‘other’ ethnic group (17%)

• out of all regions, black people had the highest unemployment rate in the North West (10%), followed by West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber (both 9%)

• the East of England and London had the largest unemployment rate difference between white people (8%) and people from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (5%)

• the East Midlands had the largest difference in unemployment rate between white people and people from the Asian ‘other’ ethnic group (14%)

10. Data sources

Source

Annual Population Survey

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Note on corrections or updates

Higher-level figures may differ from those published by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for National Statistics that use the Labour Force Survey.

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is the largest ongoing household survey in the UK and covers a range of topics, including:

• personal characteristics
• labour market status
• work characteristics
• education
• health

The purpose of the APS is to provide information on important social and socio-economic variables at local levels, such as labour market estimates.

The published statistics also allow the government to monitor estimates on a range of issues between censuses.

11. Download the data

Unemployment by Local Authorities - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 MB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, geography, geography_type, Age, age_type, sex, value, value_type, confidence_interval, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size

Unemployment by region_2022 - Spreadsheet (csv) 5 MB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, geography, geography_type, Age, age_type, sex, value, value_type, confidence_interval, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size

Length of unemployment (2022) - Spreadsheet (csv) 24 MB

This file contains the following: Measure, Length of unemployment, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, Geography, Geography_type, age, age_type, sex, Value, Value_type, Confidence_interval, Numerator , Denominator, Sample_size

Publication release date: 28 November 2023

Updated: 26 March 2024

full page history

1. 26 March 2024 Fixed some formatting issues.
2. 12 December 2023 Amended labels from 'Other than white' to 'Other ethnic groups'
3. 28 November 2023 new data

From: Office for National Statistics

Previous editions:

1. 3 November 2022
2. 29 January 2021
3. 30 September 2020
4. 7 June 2019
5. 6 April 2018

This page replaces 1 older page:

1. Length of time spent in unemployment

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