Economic inactivity by qualification level

Published

Last updated 8 August 2023 - see all updates

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1. Main facts and figures

  • 19% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) were ‘economically inactive’ in 2021 – this broadly means they were out of work and not actively looking for work or in full-time education

  • in every ethnic group, 16 to 64 year olds with a level 4 qualification or above (equivalent to degree level) were less likely to be economically inactive than those with lower level qualifications

  • at almost all qualification levels, white 16 to 64 year olds were the least likely to be economically inactive out of all ethnic groups

  • in every ethnic group, women had higher rates of economic inactivity than men

  • Asian women had the highest rate of economic inactivity out of all ethnic groups (32%)

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 were ‘economically inactive’.

A person of working age is economically inactive if they are:

  • out of work
  • not actively looking for work
  • not waiting to start a job
  • not in full-time education
  • caring for their family
  • retired

The data also shows rates of economic inactivity 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

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 for men and women
  • 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 people aged 16 to 64 who were economically inactive and not in full-time education, by ethnicity and qualification level
Highest Qualification Held All Asian Black Mixed White Other
All 19 21 21 22 18 22
Level 4 And Above 11 12 12 9 11 15
Level 3 15 19 17 12 15 20
Level 2 24 37 31 42 23 38
Below Level 2 27 30 29 39 26 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Other Qualifications 22 27 27 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 20 27
No Qualifications 51 51 53 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 51 47

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

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

Economic Inactivity by Qualification Level - Spreadsheet (csv) 449 KB

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