Employment by sector
Published
1. Main facts and figures
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32.2% of workers in the UK worked in the public administration, education and health sector in 2021, making it the sector with the highest percentage of workers
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in every ethnic group, the public administration, education and health sector employed the highest percentage of workers
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25.9% of workers from the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group worked in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this sector
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of people from each ethnic group who work in a particular industry or sector in the UK. It includes both employed and self-employed people.
Percentages have been rounded to 1 decimal point. This means some totals may not add up to 100%.
Not included in the data
Data based on fewer than 3 responses is not included to protect respondents’ confidentiality, and because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable conclusions.
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, white Irish people and all other white people (the ‘White other’ ethnic group). Separate figures are also shown for 3 different Asian ethnic groups (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi combined, and Asian other).
People whose ethnicity is not known are included in the figures for ‘All’.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology documents for the Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey.
This data uses the ‘UK SIC 2007’ list. This means that some of the data may not be comparable before and after January 2009.
The estimates on this page are based on survey data. See 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:
- data for the years 2004 to 2021
- numbers rounded to the nearest 100
- confidence intervals – read more about how we use confidence intervals to determine the reliability of survey data
3. By ethnicity and sector
| Industry | All | Asian | Indian | Pakistani, Bangladeshi | Other Asian | Black | Mixed | White | White British | White Irish | White Other | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 0.8 | 0.1 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 0.2 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| Energy and water | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 |
| Manufacturing | 8.5 | 6.5 | 8.3 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.8 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 10.2 | 6.4 |
| Construction | 6.5 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 5.6 | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| Distribution, hotels and restaurants | 16.4 | 18.6 | 12.6 | 25.9 | 20.3 | 12.3 | 17.8 | 16.3 | 16.3 | 10.5 | 17.5 | 17.7 |
| Transport and communication | 9.7 | 15.3 | 18.9 | 14.4 | 10.2 | 10.3 | 9.9 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 11.5 | 13.8 | 13.9 |
| Banking and finance | 18.3 | 20.3 | 21.2 | 16.3 | 23.4 | 16.2 | 21.6 | 18.1 | 17.9 | 18.4 | 20.6 | 18.4 |
| Public admin, education and health | 32.2 | 31.9 | 32.3 | 31.3 | 31.9 | 47.2 | 32.8 | 31.7 | 32.3 | 38.2 | 24.4 | 32.7 |
| Other services | 5.8 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 6.1 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and sector’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and sector’ (CSV)
Summary of Employment by sector By ethnicity and sector Summary
The data shows that:
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32.2% of all workers in the UK worked in public administration, education and health in 2021, making it the sector with the highest percentage of workers
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in every ethnic group, the highest percentage of workers were employed in the public administration, education and health sector
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25.9% of workers from the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group, and 20.3% from the other Asian group worked in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector – the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups in this sector
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47.2% of black workers worked in public administration, education and health – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this sector
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7.0% of white British and 6.9% of white Irish workers worked in the construction sector – the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups in this sector
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23.4% of workers from the other Asian ethnic group, 21.6% of workers from the mixed group, and 21.2% from the Indian ethnic group worked in the banking and finance sector
4. 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.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following variables: Measure, Time, Time_type, Ethnicity, Industry, SIC, Value, Value_type, Denominator, Numerator, CI