Employment

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 23 January 2018 - see all updates

This page corrects mistakes in a previous version. See details.

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• since 2004, employment has gone up across all ethnic groups; 2016 saw the highest rate of employment, with 74% (around 29.5 million people) of the overall population employed

• in 2016, a larger percentage of White British and White ethnic minority groups were employed than the other ethnic groups combined

• in the same year, 64% of people from other ethnic groups were employed (compared to 74% of people from White groups) ?– an increase of 1 percentage point since 2015, and the highest percentage since 2004

• the ‘employment rate gap’ – the difference between the employment rate for the whole population and that for ethnic minority groups (excluding White ethnic minorities) – has decreased over time, from 15 percentage points in 2004 to 10 percentage points in 2016

• employment rates are lower for ethnic minority groups (excluding White ethnic minorities) than the overall population across the country, with a larger gap in the North than in the South (13.2 percentage points compared to 9.0 percentage points)

Things you need to know

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a ‘sample survey’. It collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings') about the total population.

The commentary for this data includes only reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.

Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.

As with all surveys, the estimates from the APS are subject to a degree of uncertainty as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.

Smaller numbers of survey respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds mean that estimates for ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) are more unreliable than estimates for White people (which includes White British and White ethnic minorities).

Results taken from a sample which has a low number of responses are more likely to be affected by statistical variation, so observed changes might not reflect real differences. As such, caution is needed when interpreting short-term trends in the data, especially for sub groups (for example, a specific ethnic group, age group and gender).

When looking at data for ‘All’ groups, any values based on fewer than 30 responses have been withheld, and when further breaking down the data by ethnicity, any values based on fewer than 100 responses have been withheld. This is to protect confidentiality or because the numbers involved are too small to draw any reliable conclusions.

Data is sourced from the Annual Population Survey to get lower level details such as local authority area. Higher-level figures may differ slightly from reports published by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for National Statistics that also use the Labour Force Survey.

Changes were made to the Labour Force Survey (and therefore the Annual Population Survey) ethnicity questions in January to March 2011, to bring them more in line with Census data collection on these topics. In April to June 2011 further changes were made to the ethnicity questions to bring them in line with Scottish Census data collection. As a result, there may be some inconsistencies with estimates from earlier than 2011.

What the data measures

This data measures the rate of employment in England, Wales and Scotland across different ethnic groups.

This ‘employment rate’ is calculated as the number of people in employment as a percentage of the total working age population. ‘Working age’ includes everyone aged 16 to 64 years.

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

• 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

The figures come from the Annual Population Survey (APS), which is a general household survey covering the UK. It uses data from the Labour Force Survey as well as other local data.

The data also measures the ‘employment rate gap’, which is the difference between the employment rate for the whole population and that for ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities).

The ethnic categories used in this data

Where possible, data is broken down by 9 groups:

• White British
• White Other
• Black
• Mixed
• Indian
• Pakistani/Bangladeshi
• Other Asian
• Other ethnic groups
• Unknown

However, in cases where the number of people surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions about specific ethnic categories, the data is broken down into:

• White – White ethnic groups (including White British and White ethnic minorities)
• Other – all other ethnic minorities

People whose ethnicity is 'Unknown' (because their ethnicity was not recorded or they chose not to state their ethnicity) are counted in measurements for ‘All’ groups, such as all people in employment. However they are not counted where data is broken down by White compared to all other ethnic minorities.

2. Employment by ethnicity

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of employed people by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Employed people
All	74	29,478,000
Asian	63	1,978,000
Indian	73	828,000
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	54	637,000
Asian other	63	513,000
Black	67	891,000
Mixed	64	326,000
White	76	25,790,000
White British	75	23,397,000
White other	80	2,393,000
Other	61	468,000

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, the group with the highest employment rate was White Other, at 80%, and the group with the lowest was Pakistani/Bangladeshi, at 54%; this was a gap of 26 percentage points

• in 2016, every ethnic minority (other than White ethnic minorities) had lower rates of employment than the White British group (75%); the Indian ethnic group was the closest, at 73%, followed by people from the Black ethnic group, at 67%

3. Employment by ethnicity (White and Other)

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of people from the White and Other ethnic groups who are employed

Ethnicity	%	Employed people
All	74	29,478,000
White	76	25,790,000
Other	64	3,664,000

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity (White and Other) Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, the rate of employment for people from ethnic minorities (other than White minorities) was 64%

• the ‘employment rate gap’ – the difference between the employment rate for the whole working age population and that for all ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) – was 10 percentage points in 2016

4. Employment by ethnicity over time

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of employed people by ethnicity over time

Ethnicity	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	73	73	73	73	72	71	70	70	71	71	72	74	74
Indian	68	69	69	69	69	68	70	N/A*	69	69	71	71	73
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	44	44	45	45	46	47	46	N/A*	48	49	52	53	54
Asian other	58	60	60	61	64	63	59	N/A*	60	59	62	64	63
Black	60	61	62	63	61	58	60	N/A*	60	61	62	65	67
Mixed	62	62	65	63	60	60	61	N/A*	60	62	63	65	64
White British	74	74	74	74	74	72	72	N/A*	72	73	74	75	75
White other	71	73	74	75	75	74	74	N/A*	75	76	77	79	80
Other	55	57	55	58	58	56	56	N/A*	56	57	57	59	61

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity over time Summary

This data shows that:

• from 2004 to 2016, the employment rates for all ethnic groups were higher than in 2004; however for the Mixed, Other Asian and Other ethnic groups, sample sizes are small, so any generalisations based on this result are unreliable

• from 2004 to 2016, the Pakistani/Bangladeshi ethnic group had the biggest rise in the rate of employment, from 44% to 54%, and the White British group had the smallest rise, from 74% to 75%

• the rate of employment was generally higher in 2016 than in 2015 for most ethnic groups; however sample sizes for ethnic minorities are small, so any generalisations based on this result are unreliable

5. Employment by ethnicity and area

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of employed people by ethnicity and area

Ethnicity	East Midlands	East of England	London	North East	North West	Scotland	South East	South West	Wales	West Midlands	Yorkshire and The Humber
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	75	77	74	70	72	73	78	77	71	71	72
Indian	70	73	76		64	69	78	83		70	66
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	53	54	54	55	55	61	60			50	54
Asian other	60	71	66		57	49	66	68	52	50	60
Black	68	72	69		59	61	68	62		60	75
Mixed	60	74	63		68		72	60		56	61
White British	76	77	78	71	73	74	78	77	72	75	74
White other	80	84	81	74	79	78	81	78	77	75	77
Other		68	63		55	56	66	69	54	57	50

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

• in all regions across the country in 2016, the rate of employment for people from a White background, including White ethnic minorities, was higher than for people from all other ethnic groups

• in 2016, the lowest rates of employment for each ethnic group were generally seen in northern areas, including the North East (71% for White British and 74% for White Other) and the North West (59% for Black and 64% for Indian)

• the West Midlands also saw relatively low rates of employment for each ethnic group (56% for the Mixed ethnic group and 50% for the Pakistani/Bangladeshi group)

• in 2016, the highest employment rates for each ethnic group were generally seen in southern areas, including the East of England (84% for White Other, 74% for the Mixed ethnic group and 71% for Other Asian), the South East (78% for White British) and the South West (83% for Indian and 69% for Other)

• in contrast with most other regions, the Pakistani/Bangladeshi group had a relatively high rate of employment in Scotland, at 61%, and the Black group had a relatively high rate of employment in Yorkshire and the Humber, at 75%

6. Employment by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of employed people by ethnicity and gender

	Women		Men
Ethnicity	Women %	Women Employed people	Men %	Men Employed people
All	69	13,850,000	79	15,628,000
Asian - Indian	64	350,000	81	478,000
Asian - Other	55	243,000	72	270,000
Asian - Pakistani/Bangladeshi	35	197,000	72	440,000
Black	64	475,000	71	416,000
Mixed	62	171,000	67	156,000
White - British	71	11,086,000	79	12,311,000
White - Other	73	1,126,000	88	1,267,000
Other	51	191,000	71	277,000

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, the rate of employment for men was higher than for women in all ethnic groups

• in 2016, the gender employment rate gap (the difference in employment rates for men compared with women) was smallest for the Mixed ethnic group; 67% of men were employed compared to 62% of women, a gap of 5 percentage points

• in 2016, the gender employment rate gap was largest for the Pakistani/Bangladeshi ethnic group; more than twice as many men (72%) were employed than women (35%), a gap of 37 percentage points

• in 2016, the difference between rates of employment for Pakistani/Bangladeshi women (35%) and White British women (71%) was 36 percentage points

• Indian women had the highest employment rate of all ethnic minorities (other than White minorities), at 64%

• in 2016, the Mixed ethnic group had the lowest employment rate for men, at 67%

• in 2016, the White Other group had the highest employment rate for men, at 88%, followed by Indian men at 81% and White British men at 79%

7. Employment by ethnicity and age

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of employed people by ethnicity and age

	16-24		25-49		50-64
Ethnicity	16-24 %	16-24 Employed people	25-49 %	25-49 Employed people	50-64 %	50-64 Employed people
All	54	3,745,000	83	17,458,000	70	8,275,000
Indian	35	56,000	82	616,000	70	156,000
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	32	85,000	63	480,000	49	72,000
Asian other	27	48,000	74	368,000	68	97,000
Black	38	107,000	75	565,000	73	220,000
Mixed	39	68,000	79	218,000	68	41,000
White British	58	3,123,000	85	12,997,000	70	7,277,000
White other	56	213,000	85	1,857,000	75	323,000
Other	33	43,000	68	342,000	65	83,000

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment by ethnicity and age Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, the ‘employment rate gap’ – the difference between the employment rate for the whole population and that for ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) – was largest in the 16 to 24 age group; the rate was 34% for ethnic minorities, compared with 54% for the whole population, a difference of 20 percentage points

• for people aged 16 to 24 years, the White British group had the highest rate of employment, at 58%, while the Other Asian group has the lowest rate, at 27%; this is a difference of 31 percentage points

• for people aged 25 to 49 years, the White Other and White British groups had the highest rate of employment, at 85%, while the Pakistani/Bangladeshi group has the lowest rate, at 63%; this is a difference of 22 percentage points

• for people aged 50 to 64 years, the White Other group has the highest rate of employment, at 75%, and the Pakistani/Bangladeshi group has the lowest rate, at 49%

8. Employment for 16 to 24 year olds by ethnicity over time

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2016
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of employed 16 to 24 year olds by ethnicity

Ethnicity	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	60	59	58	57	56	53	50	49	50	50	51	54	54
Indian	44	42	47	45	42	37	38	N/A*	41	33	34	35	35
Pakistani/Bangladeshi	33	35	36	30	34	32	30	N/A*	30	28	32	35	32
Asian other	34	32	32	31	33	28	22	N/A*	23	24	24	27	27
Black	36	35	38	38	31	28	27	N/A*	27	27	31	32	38
Mixed	49	46	49	49	44	41	36	N/A*	41	43	43	42	39
White British	63	62	61	61	59	56	54	N/A*	53	54	55	58	58
White other	56	62	65	61	63	57	55	N/A*	48	51	49	55	56
Other	36	36	34	37	37	30	29	N/A*	26	25	26	34	33

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment Employment for 16 to 24 year olds by ethnicity over time Summary

The 16 to 24 year old age group was less likely to be employed than people in the older age groups. This is partly because people in this age group are more likely to be in full-time education. Please see ‘Economic inactivity due to full-time education’ for more information.

• for people aged 16 to 24 years, the rate of employment in 2016 was lower than in 2004, apart from the White Other and Black ethnic groups

• the largest fall in the rate of employment between 2004 and 2016, for people aged 16 to 24 years, was in the Mixed ethnic group, which went from 49% to 39%, a difference of 10 percentage points

• the next largest drop in the rate of employment was for the Indian ethnic group, which fell from 44% in 2004 to 35% in 2016, followed by the Other Asian ethnic group, which fell from 34% in 2004 to 27% in 2016

• although the graph shows a rise in the percentage employed for Black 16 to 24 year olds from 2004 to 2016, the sample sizes are small so any generalisations based on this result are unreliable; this is also the case when looking at changes for all ethnic groups between 2015 and 2016

9. Methodology

The Annual Population Survey is a continuous household survey and is a ‘sample survey’. This means it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings’) about the total population (such as employment). Most people are interviewed face to face at first, and later by telephone. The sample is formed partly from waves 1 and 5 of the Labour Force Survey (in which selected addresses are contacted every 3 months) and partly from boost cases which are in the sample for 4 waves, spread one year apart.

Participants are randomly selected from the Royal Mail Postcode address File (PAF) although we also use the NHS communal accommodation list and (in the case of remote parts of Scotland) telephone directories. All eligible individuals found at the selected address may be interviewed. Only those for whom either the individual responds or another family member gives a proxy response are included in the dataset used for this analysis. The complex survey design has been taken into account when calculating confidence intervals.

The achieved sample of approximately 275,000 undergoes weighting which is structured at local authority level and uses age and sex dimensions. The Office for National Statistics population estimates and projections are used as the basis for this weighting process.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

In data covering all ethnic groups together, estimates based on sample sizes of less than 30 have been suppressed. For data broken down by ethnic groups, estimates based on sample sizes under 100 have been suppressed.

‘Suppression’ means these figures have not been included in the data, to protect confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to draw any reliable conclusions.

Quality and methodology information

10. Data sources

Source

Annual Population Survey

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

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 government to monitor estimates on a range of issues between Censuses.

11. Download the data

Employment by local authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 716 KB

This file contains employment rates by ethnicity, time, gender, local authority area and age, with numerator, denominator, sample size and confidence intervals

Employment by region - Spreadsheet (csv) 1 MB

Year, ethnic group, region, age group, gender, numerator, denominator, value, confidence interval, sample size

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 23 January 2018

full page history

1. 23 January 2018 Minor corrections in line with consistency audit
2. 11 October 2017 Correction on regional figures for employment gap
3. 10 October 2017 Minor updates for style and accuracy
4. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Office for National Statistics

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