Full time and part time employment
Published
There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity over time (full time only) section
- 5. Navigate to By ethnicity over time (part time only) section
- 6. Navigate to By ethnicity and gender section
- 7. Navigate toData sources section
- 8. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
-
77% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) who were employed in 2021 worked full time, and 23% worked part time
-
employed people in the white ‘other’ (82%) and Indian (82%) ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to work full time
-
employed people in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (31%) were the most likely to work part time
-
between 2004 and 2021, people in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group were consistently among the most likely to be employed part time
-
in 2021, men were more likely to be employed full time than women in every ethnic group
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the number and percentage of employed 16 to 64 year olds who were in full time and part time employment in their main job. The data covers England, Wales and Scotland.
In the Annual Population Survey, respondents decide if they are in part time or full time employment.
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
Percentages in the charts and tables are rounded to 1 decimal place, but have been worked out with unrounded figures. Totals in the download file have been rounded to the nearest 100.
Not included in the data
The data does not include estimates based on fewer than:
- 30 survey respondents for data which includes all ethnic groups together
- 100 survey respondents 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 categories used in this 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 the white British and white ‘other’ ethnic groups. 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, and by region and sex for all ethnic groups
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group – see how we use confidence intervals to demonstrate the reliability of survey estimates
- sample sizes
- estimates rounded to 1 decimal place
- estimates for employed people who did not report whether they worked full time or part time
3. By ethnicity
| Full-Time | Part-Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Full-Time % | Full-Time Number | Part-Time % | Part-Time Number |
| All | 77 | 23,090,600 | 23 | 6,894,900 |
| Asian | 78 | 1,681,600 | 22 | 486,100 |
| Indian | 82 | 775,700 | 18 | 166,700 |
| Pakistani and Bangladeshi | 69 | 444,100 | 31 | 200,800 |
| Any Other Asian Background | 80 | 461,800 | 20 | 118,600 |
| Black | 75 | 730,000 | 24 | 236,600 |
| Mixed | 77 | 342,600 | 23 | 102,500 |
| White | 77 | 19,944,500 | 23 | 5,944,800 |
| White British | 76 | 17,894,200 | 24 | 5,507,300 |
| White Other | 82 | 2,050,200 | 18 | 437,500 |
| Other | 76 | 376,800 | 24 | 118,200 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Full time and part time employment By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
-
77% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) who were employed in 2021 worked full time, and 23% worked part time
-
employed people in the white ‘other’ (82%) and Indian (82%) ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to work full time
-
employed people in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group (31%) were the most likely to work part time
4. By ethnicity over time (full time only)
| Ethnicity | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 75 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 75 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 77 |
| Asian | 76 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 76 | 73 | 72 | not collected | 72 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 78 |
| Indian | 78 | 79 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 79 | 79 | not collected | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 79 | 82 | 81 | 81 | 82 |
| Pakistani and Bangladeshi | 72 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 70 | 66 | 63 | not collected | 66 | 67 | 68 | 67 | 71 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 |
| Any Other Asian Background | 76 | 76 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 71 | not collected | 71 | 74 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 73 | 76 | 80 |
| Black | 76 | 76 | 76 | 75 | 76 | 75 | 72 | not collected | 72 | 71 | 69 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 75 |
| Mixed | 74 | 74 | 73 | 72 | 75 | 74 | 73 | not collected | 71 | 69 | 71 | 67 | 69 | 69 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 77 |
| White | 75 | 75 | 76 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 74 | not collected | 74 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 77 |
| White British | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 74 | 74 | not collected | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 76 |
| White Other | 79 | 80 | 81 | 81 | 82 | 79 | 79 | not collected | 80 | 79 | 80 | 80 | 81 | 80 | 82 | 82 | 82 | 82 |
| Other | 76 | 77 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 75 | 71 | not collected | 72 | 73 | 72 | 69 | 71 | 75 | 72 | 73 | 76 | 76 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time (full time only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time (full time only)’ (CSV)
Summary of Full time and part time employment By ethnicity over time (full time only) Summary
The data shows that:
-
between 2004 and 2021, the percentage of employed 16 to 64 year olds who worked full time ranged from 74% to 77%
-
employed people in the white ‘other’ and Indian ethnic groups were consistently the most likely to be in full time employment
-
employed people in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group were consistently the least likely to be in full time employment
-
between 2020 and 2021, the percentage of employed people in the mixed ethnic group who worked full time went up from 71% to 77% – the biggest increase out of all ethnic groups
5. By ethnicity over time (part time only)
| Ethnicity | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 23 |
| Asian | 24 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 27 | 27 | not collected | 28 | 26 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 22 |
| Indian | 21 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | not collected | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 |
| Pakistani and Bangladeshi | 27 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 29 | 33 | 37 | not collected | 33 | 33 | 32 | 32 | 29 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| Any Other Asian Background | 24 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 29 | 29 | not collected | 29 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 20 |
| Black | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 27 | not collected | 28 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 24 |
| Mixed | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 25 | 26 | 26 | not collected | 28 | 31 | 28 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 27 | 26 | 29 | 23 |
| White | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 26 | not collected | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 23 |
| White British | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 26 | not collected | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 |
| White Other | 21 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 20 | not collected | 19 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| Other | 24 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 25 | 28 | not collected | 28 | 27 | 28 | 31 | 29 | 25 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 24 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time (part time only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time (part time only)’ (CSV)
Summary of Full time and part time employment By ethnicity over time (part time only) Summary
The data shows that:
-
between 2004 and 2021, the percentage of employed 16 to 64 year olds who worked part time ranged from 23% to 26%
-
people in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group were consistently among the most likely to be employed part time
-
between 2020 and 2021, the percentage of employed people in the mixed ethnic group who worked part time went down from 29% to 23% – the biggest decrease out of all ethnic groups
6. By ethnicity and gender
| Men | Women | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Men % Full time | Men Number Full time | Men % Part time | Men Number Part time | Women % Full time | Women Number Full time | Women % Part time | Women Number Part time |
| All | 89 | 13,921,100 | 11 | 1,675,000 | 64 | 9,169,500 | 36 | 5,220,000 |
| Asian | 86 | 1,054,800 | 14 | 166,500 | 66 | 626,800 | 34 | 319,600 |
| Black | 87 | 385,200 | 12 | 54,900 | 65 | 344,800 | 35 | 181,700 |
| Mixed | 85 | 189,200 | 15 | 33,500 | 69 | 153,400 | 31 | 69,000 |
| White | 90 | 12,055,800 | 10 | 1,373,800 | 63 | 7,888,700 | 37 | 4,571,000 |
| Other | 84 | 229,100 | 16 | 42,800 | 66 | 147,700 | 34 | 75,400 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV)
Summary of Full time and part time employment By ethnicity and gender Summary
The data shows that, among working age people in employment:
-
men were more likely to work full time than women in every ethnic group
-
white men (90%) were more likely to work full time than men from the Asian (86%), black (87%) and ‘other’ (84%) ethnic groups
-
although there is a 6 percentage point difference between white women (69%) and women in the mixed ethnic group (63%) working full time, this difference is not meaningful – no ethnic group was more likely to work full time than the others
7. 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.
8. Download the data
This file contains the following: Measure, Employment_type, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Time, Time_Type, Region, Sex, Value, Value_type, Confidence_interval, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size