Employment

Published 29 January 2021

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• 76% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) in England, Scotland and Wales were employed in 2019
• 78% of White people were employed, compared with 66% of people from all other ethnic groups combined
• the difference in the employment rates between the White ethnic group and all other ethnic groups combined went down by 5 percentage points between 2004 and 2019
• the highest employment rate in 2019 was in the White Other ethnic group (83%)
• the lowest employment rate was in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (56%)
• between 2004 and 2019, the biggest employment rate increases were in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (from 44% to 56%) and the White Other ethnic group (from 71% to 83%)
• the highest employment rates for most ethnic groups were generally in the South and East of England – the lowest were generally in the North of England, Scotland, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the number and percentage of people in England, Scotland and Wales who are employed.

Percentages are worked out using the total working age population (people aged 16 to 64 years).

Someone is classed 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, tables and commentary are rounded to whole numbers, but have been worked out with unrounded figures.

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

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 and all other White people (‘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 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:

• 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:

• ​by region, age group and sex over time for detailed ethnic groups
• for each 3-month period for the White and Other than White ethnic groups since 2001
• confidence intervals for each ethnic group – read how we use confidence intervals to demonstrate the reliability of survey estimates
• sample sizes
• estimates rounded to 1 decimal place

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Number of people employed
All	76	30,427,000
Asian	65	2,140,000
Indian	76	898,900
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	56	712,400
Asian Other	65	528,700
Black	69	996,900
Mixed	69	366,600
White	78	26,395,600
White British	77	23,808,800
White Other	83	2,586,800
Other	63	512,200

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• 76% of people aged 16 to 64 in England, Scotland and Wales were employed in 2019
• 83% of people from the White Other ethnic group were employed – the highest rate out of all ethnic groups
• 56% of people from the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group were employed – the lowest rate out of all ethnic groups

4. By ethnicity over time (White and Other than White)

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity (White and Other than White) over time

	All		White		Other than White
Year	All %	All Number of people employed	White %	White Number of people employed	Other than White %	Other than White Number of people employed
2004	73	27,057,900	74	25,022,700	58	2,011,900
2005	73	27,365,300	74	25,180,000	59	2,163,400
2006	73	27,592,800	74	25,245,300	59	2,329,900
2007	73	27,850,200	74	25,347,400	60	2,486,900
2008	72	27,957,200	74	25,329,800	60	2,611,100
2009	71	27,508,700	72	24,846,400	59	2,640,900
2010	70	27,484,600	72	24,703,600	59	2,755,200
2011	70	27,546,800
2012	71	27,759,100	72	24,749,700	59	2,993,800
2013	71	28,069,200	73	24,996,900	59	3,055,700
2014	72	28,585,700	74	25,277,300	61	3,259,400
2015	74	29,208,300	75	25,718,900	63	3,453,800
2016	74	29,506,000	76	25,830,800	64	3,651,900
2017	75	29,946,000	77	26,214,500	65	3,712,500
2018	75	30,116,600	77	26,212,300	65	3,879,600
2019	76	30,427,000	78	26,395,600	66	4,015,700

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity over time (White and Other than White) Summary

The data shows that:

• 78% of White people were employed in 2019, compared with 66% of people from all other ethnic groups combined
• the difference in the employment rates for White people and those from all other ethnic groups combined went down from 16pp in 2004 to 11pp in 2019
• the last quarter of 2019 (October to December) had the highest employment rate (67%) for ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities) – download the data for quarterly figures in 2019

5. By ethnicity over time

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity over time

Ethnicity	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	73	73	73	73	72	71	70	70	71	71	72	74	74	75	75	76
Asian	57	57	58	58	59	59	59		59	59	62	63	63	64	66	65
Indian	68	69	69	69	69	68	70		69	69	71	71	73	74	76	76
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	44	44	45	45	46	47	46		48	49	52	53	54	55	57	56
Asian Other	58	60	60	61	64	63	59		60	59	62	64	63	64	64	65
Black	60	61	62	63	61	58	60		60	61	62	65	67	67	67	69
Mixed	62	62	65	63	60	60	61		60	62	63	65	64	67	67	69
White	74	74	74	74	74	72	72		72	73	74	75	76	77	77	78
White British	74	74	74	74	74	72	72		72	73	74	75	75	76	76	77
White Other	71	73	74	75	75	74	74		75	76	77	79	80	81	82	83
Other	55	57	55	58	58	56	56		56	57	57	59	61	62	61	63

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity over time Summary

The data shows that:

• between 2004 and 2019 the employment rate increased in every ethnic group
• the biggest increases were in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (from 44% to 56%) and the White Other ethnic group (from 71% to 83%)
• the smallest increase was in the White British ethnic group (from 74% to 77%)

6. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity and gender

	All		Men		Women
Ethnicity	All %	All Number of people employed	Men %	Men Number of people employed	Women %	Women Number of people employed
All	76	30,427,000	80	15,957,500	72	14,469,400
Asian	65	2,140,000	77	1,236,400	54	903,500
Indian	76	898,900	82	500,300	69	398,500
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	56	712,400	73	467,200	39	245,200
Asian Other	65	528,700	74	268,900	58	259,800
Black	69	996,900	71	470,600	67	526,300
Mixed	69	366,600	71	183,900	67	182,700
White	78	26,395,600	81	13,766,300	74	12,629,300
White British	77	23,808,800	80	12,451,500	74	11,357,300
White Other	83	2,586,800	89	1,314,800	78	1,272,000
Other	63	512,200	73	291,800	54	220,400

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• in every ethnic group, the employment rate was higher for men than women
• the gap between men and women was biggest in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group, where 73% of men and 39% of women were employed
• the gap was smallest in the Black ethnic group, where 71% of men and 67% of women were employed
• for both men and women, the highest employment rate was in the White Other ethnic group (89% for men, 78% for women)
• the lowest employment rate among women was in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (39%)
• the lowest employment rate among men was in the Mixed and Black ethnic groups (71%)

7. By ethnicity and age

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage and number of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity and age

	16-24		25-49		50-64		All
Ethnicity	16-24 %	16-24 Number of people employed	25-49 %	25-49 Number of people employed	50-64 %	50-64 Number of people employed	All %	All Number of people employed
All	54	3,630,900	85	17,823,900	73	8,972,100	76	30,427,000
Asian	34	222,600	75	1,532,300	67	385,100	65	2,140,000
Indian	38	65,400	84	652,100	75	181,400	76	898,900
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	34	108,300	65	505,600	55	98,600	56	712,400
Asian Other	31	48,900	74	374,700	70	105,100	65	528,700
Black	37	108,000	78	615,600	75	273,300	69	996,900
Mixed	46	75,500	83	243,100	68	48,000	69	366,600
White	58	3,180,900	87	15,055,500	73	8,159,200	78	26,395,600
White British	58	2,956,700	86	13,080,000	73	7,772,200	77	23,808,800
White Other	59	224,200	88	1,975,600	79	387,100	83	2,586,800
Other	30	43,300	71	367,300	68	101,600	63	512,200

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity and age Summary

The data shows that:

• the employment rate was 54% for all 16 to 24 year olds, 85% for 25 to 49 year olds, and 73% for 50 to 64 year olds
• among 16 to 24 year olds, the employment rate was highest in the White Other ethnic group (59%), and lowest in the Other Asian group (31%)
• among 25 to 49 year olds, the employment rate was highest in the White Other ethnic group (88%), and lowest in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi group (65%)
• among 50 to 64 year olds, the employment rate was highest in the White Other ethnic group (79%), and lowest in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi group (55%)
• the difference in the employment rate between White people and those from ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities) was biggest among 16 to 24 year olds, where 58% of White people and 36% of those from ethnic minorities were employed
• the difference in the employment rate between White people and those from ethnic minorities was smallest among 50 to 64 year olds, where 73% of White people and 70% of those from ethnic minorities were employed – download the data to see these figures in detail

8. By ethnicity over time (16 to 24 year olds only)

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2004 to 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of 16 to 24 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity over time

Ethnicity	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	60	59	58	57	56	53	50	49	50	50	51	54	54	54	54	54
Asian	37	36	39	35	37	33	30		31	28	30	33	31	34	37	34
Indian	44	42	47	45	42	37	38		41	33	34	35	35	43	43	38
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	33	35	36	30	34	32	30		30	28	32	35	32	32	37	34
Asian Other	34	32	32	31	33	28	22		23	24	24	27	27	29	29	31
Black	36	35	38	38	31	28	27		27	27	31	32	37	34	33	37
Mixed	49	46	49	49	44	41	36		41	43	43	42	39	47	46	46
White	63	62	61	61	60	56	54		53	54	55	58	58	58	58	58
White British	63	62	61	61	59	56	54		53	54	55	58	58	59	58	58
White Other	56	62	65	61	63	57	55		48	51	49	55	56	55	53	59
Other	36	36	34	37	37	30	29		26	25	26	34	32	30	31	30

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity over time (16 to 24 year olds only) Summary

16 to 24 year olds were less likely to be employed than older people. This is partly because people in this age group were more likely to be students and therefore classed as economically inactive.

The data shows that:

• between 2004 and 2019, the employment rate for all 16 to 24 year olds went down from 60% to 54%
• the biggest decreases were in the Indian ethnic group (from 44% to 38%), and the Other ethnic group (from 36% to 30%), but ​the numbers of people surveyed are too small to make reliable generalisations

9. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England, Wales and Scotland
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Annual Population Survey

Percentage of 16 to 64 year olds who were employed, by ethnicity and area

Ethnicity	All	East Midlands	East of England	London	North East	North West	Scotland	South East	South West	Wales	West Midlands	Yorkshire and The Humber
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	76	77	78	75	71	75	75	80	79	73	74	74
Asian	65	67	71	66	58	60	57	75	72	66	62	56
Indian	76	73	84	74		72	64	85	71		77	69
Pakistani, Bangladeshi	56	57	59	58	47	54	53	68		61	52	53
Asian Other	65	61	72	65		59	57	70	77	63	55	58
Black	69	72	73	69	60	67	63	76	77	63	62	74
Mixed	69		76	69		69		73	77	68	61	68
White	78	78	79	79	71	76	76	80	80	74	77	76
White British	77	78	78	78	71	76	75	80	79	74	77	76
White Other	83	83	86	83	77	82	80	85	85	81	84	80
Other	63		75	66	44	55	55	77	68	52	56	50

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Employment By ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• the lowest overall employment rate was in the North East
• the highest overall employment rates were in the South and the East of England
• the highest employment rate out of all ethnic groups and regions was for people in the White Other ethnic group living in the East of England (86%),
• the lowest rate was for people in the Other ethnic group living in the North East (44%)

10. Data sources

Source

Annual Population Survey

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.

11. Download the data

Employment by local authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 2 MB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Measure_type, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, Local_authority, Age, Value, Confidence_interval, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size

Employment by region - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 MB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Measure_type, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_type, Region, Age, Age_type, Sex, Value, Confidence_interval, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size

Employment quarterly data - Spreadsheet (csv) 20 KB

This file contains the following: Measure, Measure_type, Time, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Value.

Publication release date: 29 January 2021

full page history

1. 29 January 2021 Updated with the latest available data (for 2019).

From: Office for National Statistics

Previous editions:

1. 7 September 2020
2. 14 May 2019
3. 26 January 2018

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