Employment by qualification level

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1. Main facts and figures

  • 78% of all working age people (16 to 64 year olds) in England, Wales and Scotland were in employment in 2021

  • at almost all qualification levels, white 16 to 64 year olds were more likely to be employed than those from other ethnic groups in 2021

  • among men with no qualifications, Asian men had the highest employment rate (60%) and white men had the lowest (51%)

  • among women with a level 4 qualification (equivalent to degree level) or above, women with mixed ethnicity had the highest employment rate (86%), and women from the black (77%) and 'other' (74%) ethnic groups had the lowest

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the percentage of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) who are employed and not in full-time education.

It shows rates of employment for each qualification level, which relates to someone's highest qualification.

The qualification levels are:

  • level 4 or above (degree level or equivalent)
  • level 3 (2 or more A levels or equivalent)
  • level 2 (5 or more GCSE passes at grades 4 to 9 or equivalent)
  • below level 2 (fewer than 5 GCSE passes at grades 4 to 9 or equivalent)
  • no qualifications
  • other qualifications, including those from outside the UK and some professional qualifications where the level is not clear

A person of working age is counted as employed if they:

  • are in paid work as an employee or self-employed
  • have a job that they are temporarily away from, for example on holiday
  • are on a government-supported training or employment programme
  • are doing unpaid family work, for example working in a family business

Percentages in the charts and tables are rounded to whole numbers.

Not included in the data

The data does not include estimates based on fewer than:

  • 30 people for data for all ethnic groups combined
  • 100 people for data 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

Estimates are shown for the following 5 aggregated ethnic groups:

  • Asian
  • black
  • mixed
  • white
  • 'other'

This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 18 ethnic groups.

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.

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

In the data file

See Download the data for:

  • estimates rounded to 1 decimal place
  • confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out more about how we use confidence intervals to determine how reliable estimates are
  • estimates for 2 ethnic groups, white and all other ethnic groups combined

3. By ethnicity and qualification level

Percentage of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed and not in full-time education, by ethnicity and qualification level
Highest Qualification Held All Asian Black Mixed White Other
All 78 74 72 72 79 73
Level 4 And Above 87 85 82 88 87 81
Level 3 82 75 75 75 82 73
Level 2 73 57 63 54 74 60
Below Level 2 68 63 61 45 69 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Other Qualifications 74 67 66 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 76 67
No Qualifications 44 42 39 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 45 52

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level’ (CSV)

Summary of Employment by qualification level By ethnicity and qualification level Summary

The data shows that in 2021:

  • 78% of all 16 to 64 year olds in England, Wales and Scotland were in employment

  • 87% of people with a level 4 qualification (equivalent to a degree) or above were employed – this went down to 82% for people with 2 or more A levels (or another level 3 qualification), and 73% for people with 5 or more GCSEs (or another level 2 qualification)

  • 79% of white 16 to 64 year olds were employed – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups

  • among people with no qualifications, 16 to 64 year olds in the ‘other’ ethnic group (52%) were the most likely to be in employment out of all ethnic groups

4. By ethnicity and qualification level (men only)

Percentage of 16 to 64 year old men who were employed and not in full-time education, by ethnicity and qualification level
Highest Qualification Held All Asian Black Mixed White Other
All 82 84 78 73 82 81
Level 4 And Above 90 91 89 91 89 89
Level 3 85 82 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 85 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Level 2 77 69 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 78 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Below Level 2 74 79 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 75 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Other Qualifications 81 87 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 80 77
No Qualifications 51 60 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 51 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level (men only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level (men only)’ (CSV)

Summary of Employment by qualification level By ethnicity and qualification level (men only) Summary

The data shows that in 2021:

  • 82% of all men aged 16 to 64 in England, Wales and Scotland were in employment

  • 84% of Asian men were employed – the highest percentage for men out of all ethnic groups

  • among men with a level 4 qualification (equivalent to degree level) or above, 91% of men from both the Asian and mixed ethnic groups were employed – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups

  • among men with 5 or more GCSE passes (or another level 2 qualification), 78% of white men were employed – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups

  • among men with no qualifications, Asian men had the highest employment rate (60%) and white men had the lowest (51%)

5. By ethnicity and qualification level (women only)

Percentage of 16 to 64 year old women who were employed and not in full-time education, by ethnicity and qualification level
Highest Qualification Held All Asian Black Mixed White Other
All 74 64 68 71 76 66
Level 4 And Above 84 78 77 86 85 74
Level 3 78 68 69 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 79 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Level 2 68 45 59 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 69 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Below Level 2 61 45 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 62 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Other Qualifications 65 50 62 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 70 55
No Qualifications 36 27 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 38 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level (women only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and qualification level (women only)’ (CSV)

Summary of Employment by qualification level By ethnicity and qualification level (women only) Summary

The data shows that in 2021:

  • 74% of all women aged 16 to 64 in England, Wales and Scotland were in employment

  • at almost every qualification level (including no qualifications), white women had the highest employment rates out of women from all ethnic groups

  • at almost every qualification level (except for level 4 qualifications or above), black women had a higher employment rate than Asian women

  • among women with a level 4 qualification (equivalent to degree level) or above, women from the mixed ethnic group had the highest employment rate (86%), and women from the black (77%) and 'other' (74%) ethnic groups had the lowest

6. Data sources

Source

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.

7. Download the data

Employment by Qualification Level - Spreadsheet (csv) 459 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, geography, gender, age, highest qualification held, value, numerator, denominator, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound)