Length of time spent in unemployment
Published
This page has been archived.
It has been replaced by
Unemployment.
1. Main facts and figures
New data for the period 2004 to 2021 is available if you download the data. The charts, tables and commentary on this page cover the period 2004 to 2018 and do not include the new data.
In the period from 2004 to 2018:
- in 2018, there were no real differences in the amount of time spent in unemployment between White people and those from the Other ethnic group (made up of all other ethnic groups combined)
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures how long people in England, Wales and Scotland spent in unemployment. This is based on the length of time they were looking for work or since they last had a job – whichever was shortest.
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.
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
Data is shown for 2 ethnic groups:
- White – White ethnic groups (including White British and White ethnic minorities)
- Other than White – all other ethnic groups combined
This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 18 ethnic groups.
People whose ethnicity is not known are included in the figures for ‘All’.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
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 rounded to 1 decimal place
- estimates by area
- estimates over time
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group
3. By ethnicity
| All | White | Other than White | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | All % | All Number of people unemployed | White % | White Number of people unemployed | Other than White % | Other than White Number of people unemployed |
| 0-3 months | 44 | 600,400 | 45 | 473,100 | 42 | 126,500 |
| 3-12 months | 31 | 415,400 | 30 | 321,800 | 31 | 93,600 |
| 1+ years | 25 | 336,300 | 25 | 260,300 | 25 | 75,700 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Length of time spent in unemployment By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2018, there were no real differences in the amount of time spent in unemployment between White people and those from the Other ethnic group (made up of all other ethnic groups combined)
- 45% of White unemployed people were unemployed for less than 3 months, compared with 42% of those from the Other ethnic group
- 30% of White unemployed people were unemployed for 3 to 12 months, compared with 31% of those from the Other ethnic group
- 25% of unemployed people from both the White and Other ethnic groups were unemployed for 1 year or more
4. By ethnicity
| All | White | Other than White | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | All % | All Number of people unemployed | White % | White Number of people unemployed | Other than White % | Other than White Number of people unemployed |
| 0-3 months | 44 | 600,400 | 45 | 473,100 | 42 | 126,500 |
| 3-12 months | 31 | 415,400 | 30 | 321,800 | 31 | 93,600 |
| 1+ years | 25 | 336,300 | 25 | 260,300 | 25 | 75,700 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Length of time spent in unemployment By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2018, there were no real differences in the amount of time spent in unemployment between White people and those from the Other ethnic group (made up of all other ethnic groups combined)
- 45% of White unemployed people were unemployed for less than 3 months, compared with 42% of those from the Other ethnic group
- 30% of White unemployed people were unemployed for 3 to 12 months, compared with 31% of those from the Other ethnic group
- 25% of unemployed people from both the White and Other ethnic groups were unemployed for 1 year or more
5. Data sources
Source
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.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: Measure, Measure_type, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, Region, Value, Value_type, Confidence_interval, Numerator , Denominator, Sample_size