What do UK workforce jobs statistics measure?

Workforce jobs measure the total number of filled jobs across the UK economy, combining employee jobs, self-employment jobs, HM Forces and government-supported trainees across private and public sectors.

Which public sector workforces and industries are broken out separately?

Breakdowns include the NHS, police, civil service and local government, as well as broad industry sections such as wholesale and retail trade, construction, transport, and administrative services.

How are productivity and labour cost indicators presented?

Productivity measures such as UK output per worker, output per hour and unit labour costs are expressed as index numbers based on 2023=100, alongside annual percentage changes.

How far back do these UK employment and jobs figures extend?

Quarterly series for UK workforce jobs and employment split by sector and industry extend back to 1955 and update following each release.

UK workforce jobs by industry

Name: UK workforce jobs by industry
Creator: Office for National Statistics (ONS); Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

The number of jobs in the United Kingdom in each industry section, quarterly since 1966 — health and social work, retail, education, professional services, manufacturing and sixteen more; health and social work is now the largest employer in the country — together with how employment splits between the public and private sectors, with the two largest public workforces, the NHS and the police, shown separately.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS); Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)Last updated: Sep 28, 2026, 05:22Curated by Bui Thanh PhucAbout this data ↓

Indicator	Q2-2026	Q1-2026	Q4-2025	Q3-2025	Q2-2025	Q1-2025	Q4-2024	Q3-2024	Q2-2024	Q1-2024	Q4-2023	Q3-2023	Q2-2023
Total employment (Labour Force Survey)	34,478	34,411	34,312	34,222	34,235	34,028	33,934	33,783	33,589	33,344	33,314	33,371	33,275
Private sector employment	28,271	28,215	28,121	28,039	28,061	27,872	27,788	27,661	27,493	27,228	27,225	27,316	27,268
Public sector share of all employment	18	18	18	18.1	18	18.1	18.1	18.1	18.1	18.3	18.3	18.1	18.1
Private sector share of all employment	82	82	82	81.9	82	81.9	81.9	81.9	81.9	81.7	81.7	81.9	81.9
Workforce jobs by industry21
All industries	36,734	36,782	36,578	36,530	36,673	36,931	36,829	36,672	36,635	36,711	36,470	36,372	36,301
Q Human health and social work	5,028	5,095	5,029	5,018	5,048	5,066	5,001	4,987	5,002	4,939	4,864	4,826	4,776
G Wholesale and retail trade	4,597	4,616	4,645	4,630	4,657	4,715	4,713	4,722	4,751	4,761	4,779	4,760	4,716
P Education	3,127	3,137	3,101	3,122	3,113	3,118	3,054	3,075	3,069	3,076	3,069	3,023	3,033
M Professional, scientific and technical	3,504	3,476	3,448	3,454	3,453	3,469	3,484	3,503	3,481	3,467	3,388	3,456	3,387
N Administrative and support services	2,971	2,974	2,991	2,944	2,987	3,017	2,995	2,984	3,008	2,994	3,011	3,016	3,092
C Manufacturing	2,460	2,478	2,519	2,509	2,524	2,563	2,576	2,557	2,555	2,567	2,583	2,598	2,580
I Accommodation and food services	2,616	2,618	2,625	2,615	2,629	2,591	2,618	2,628	2,616	2,634	2,632	2,670	2,695
F Construction	2,293	2,316	2,294	2,233	2,268	2,313	2,295	2,285	2,203	2,265	2,230	2,248	2,257
O Public administration and defence	1,802	1,795	1,775	1,762	1,757	1,742	1,733	1,724	1,721	1,705	1,690	1,677	1,678
J Information and communication	1,606	1,579	1,594	1,599	1,600	1,635	1,668	1,657	1,625	1,622	1,628	1,585	1,643
H Transport and storage	1,924	1,914	1,897	1,905	1,904	1,911	1,919	1,898	1,896	1,906	1,899	1,848	1,848
K Financial and insurance activities	1,124	1,112	1,100	1,110	1,139	1,141	1,176	1,151	1,147	1,143	1,155	1,129	1,140
R Arts, entertainment and recreation	1,098	1,099	1,071	1,081	1,058	1,080	1,056	1,038	1,070	1,088	1,068	1,074	1,049
S Other service activities	976	986	949	958	983	992	974	943	937	976	902	906	900
L Real estate activities	728	723	723	717	703	727	719	689	710	698	697	697	681
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing	372	355	338	380	358	348	358	355	350	371	401	375	339
E Water supply, sewerage and waste	247	246	241	240	240	245	247	242	241	244	239	242	250
D Electricity, gas and air conditioning	147	146	141	143	146	143	142	142	136	133	131	126	128
B Mining and quarrying	54	55	51	51	50	57	54	52	54	51	52	51	52
T Activities of households as employers	59	61	46	59	56	61	47	38	64	70	53	66	57
Public sector employment, headcount14
Total public sector	6,207	6,196	6,191	6,183	6,174	6,156	6,146	6,122	6,096	6,116	6,089	6,055	6,007
Central government	4,077	4,070	4,064	4,051	4,043	4,024	4,003	3,978	3,947	3,926	3,896	3,861	3,811
Local government	1,970	1,967	1,967	1,971	1,972	1,977	1,986	1,988	1,995	1,997	1,998	1,998	2,001
General government	6,047	6,037	6,031	6,022	6,015	6,001	5,989	5,966	5,942	5,923	5,894	5,859	5,812
Public corporations	160	159	160	161	159	155	157	156	154	193	195	196	195
Civil service	557	558	555	554	551	550	548	548	546	544	535	529	522
NHS	2,068	2,068	2,069	2,069	2,069	2,062	2,053	2,041	2,027	2,017	2,004	1,984	1,962
Education	1,664	1,664	1,662	1,665	1,664	1,662	1,662	1,664	1,652	1,655	1,657	1,657	1,636
Police	280	280	280	280	281	282	282	282	282	282	281	281	280
HM Forces	149	149	148	148	147	148	147	148	147	149	149	150	151
Public administration	1,270	1,260	1,254	1,249	1,239	1,236	1,230	1,221	1,216	1,208	1,195	1,184	1,175
Other health and social work	201	200	202	201	203	204	204	205	205	206	208	209	212
Construction	35	35	35	35	35	36	35	35	35	35	34	34	33
Other public sector	540	538	540	538	535	527	532	530	528	564	561	559	554
Public sector employment, full-time equivalent13
Total public sector	5,258	5,245	5,245	5,235	5,227	5,209	5,204	5,183	5,156	5,183	5,152	5,112	5,086
Central government	3,537	3,530	3,530	3,519	3,512	3,494	3,484	3,460	3,433	3,423	3,390	3,351	3,328
Local government	1,568	1,564	1,563	1,563	1,564	1,568	1,571	1,574	1,576	1,576	1,576	1,574	1,573
General government	5,105	5,094	5,093	5,082	5,076	5,062	5,055	5,034	5,009	4,999	4,966	4,925	4,901
Public corporations	153	151	152	153	151	147	149	149	147	184	186	187	185
Civil service	523	524	521	520	517	516	514	515	513	511	502	496	489
NHS	1,839	1,837	1,842	1,842	1,841	1,831	1,829	1,818	1,805	1,799	1,783	1,759	1,745
Education	1,237	1,238	1,236	1,237	1,238	1,237	1,236	1,236	1,229	1,232	1,232	1,230	1,226
Police	273	273	273	272	273	273	273	272	271	272	272	271	270
HM Forces	149	149	148	148	147	148	147	148	147	149	149	150	151
Public administration	1,102	1,095	1,087	1,080	1,076	1,075	1,067	1,059	1,057	1,052	1,036	1,023	1,018
Other health and social work	156	156	157	156	157	159	158	159	159	159	160	162	163
Other public sector	475	472	471	471	470	461	464	463	463	494	492	490	488
Output per worker, whole economy (2023=100)		100.1	99.9	100	99.9	100.4	100.2	100	100.7	100.5	99.6	100	100.2
Output per worker, annual change		-0.2	-0.3	0	-0.8	-0.1	0.6	0	0.5	0.3	-1.1	-0.9	-0.5
Output per hour, production industries (2023=100)		99.8	98.7	97.7	97.7	99.9	98.6	97.5	100	99.4	100	100.9	99.8
Unit labour costs (2023=100)		114.5	112.7	111.7	109.5	108.9	107.9	105.6	103.6	103.1	101.2	100.7	99.9
Unit wage costs (2023=100)		112.2	111.1	110.2	108.7	108.6	107.7	105.7	103.7	102.7	101.1	101.2	99.5
Unit labour costs, annual change		5.2	4.5	5.8	5.7	5.6	6.6	4.8	3.7	5	4.4	5.8	6.4
Labour share of income		59.7	59.4	59.1	58.4	58.9	58.7	57.9	57.8	58.2	58	57.7	57.2
Labour compensation per hour (2023=100)		114.6	111.6	111	108.6	108.5	107.6	103.7	103.4	102.2	100.7	101.2	100.1
Northern Ireland employee jobs (NISRA)1
All employee jobs9
All industries	857,210	853,600	849,320	839,180	839,480	837,200	836,250	828,780	821,080	822,560	823,100	820,330	815,930
Manufacturing	91,260	90,810	90,000	89,510	90,580	90,200	90,320	90,080	89,210	88,860	89,520	89,630	89,610
Construction	42,420	42,570	40,990	41,050	40,870	40,850	39,200	38,610	39,160	38,180	36,350	36,170	35,170
Services	698,740	695,390	693,920	684,470	683,920	682,710	682,810	676,050	668,730	671,600	673,640	670,060	666,680
Other industries	24,790	24,830	24,410	24,160	24,100	23,450	23,920	24,040	23,990	23,920	23,590	24,470	24,470
Female full-time5
All industries	232,000	232,690	231,280	229,810	230,020	229,400	226,770	222,680	224,530	227,280	223,420	220,830	221,240
Manufacturing	17,510	17,700	17,240	17,180	17,180	16,980	17,220	17,150	17,250	16,960	17,140	17,270	17,220
Construction	4,770	4,800	4,520	4,530	4,580	4,040	3,980	3,990	4,130	3,950	3,670	3,570	3,580
Services	206,590	206,970	206,440	205,160	205,300	205,580	202,690	198,580	200,180	203,410	199,730	197,000	197,450
Other industries	3,140	3,210	3,070	2,940	2,960	2,790	2,880	2,960	2,970	2,960	2,880	2,990	2,990
Female part-time5
All industries	209,290	205,430	206,100	201,060	201,980	202,040	203,670	202,070	197,890	196,460	199,240	198,640	198,720
Manufacturing	4,580	4,340	4,130	4,060	4,470	4,440	4,390	4,310	4,270	4,160	4,390	4,400	4,470
Construction	2,760	2,670	2,670	2,640	2,790	2,680	2,880	2,830	2,730	2,780	2,470	2,540	2,460
Services	198,970	195,480	196,380	191,400	191,530	192,100	193,480	192,020	187,970	186,680	189,590	188,860	188,940
Other industries	2,980	2,940	2,920	2,960	3,200	2,820	2,910	2,900	2,930	2,840	2,790	2,840	2,860
Male full-time5
All industries	331,340	331,560	327,870	326,290	323,710	324,150	322,290	320,060	317,760	317,620	317,010	319,370	315,230
Manufacturing	66,540	66,310	66,070	65,780	66,580	66,280	66,090	65,220	65,060	65,140	65,430	65,390	65,180
Construction	33,510	33,630	32,190	32,570	31,520	31,810	30,150	29,720	30,050	29,180	28,090	28,140	27,190
Services	220,140	220,430	218,740	217,160	215,140	215,890	215,670	214,690	212,230	212,840	213,230	215,330	212,290
Other industries	11,150	11,190	10,880	10,780	10,470	10,160	10,380	10,430	10,420	10,460	10,260	10,510	10,570
Male part-time5
All industries	84,580	83,930	84,070	82,020	83,760	81,620	83,520	83,970	80,910	81,200	83,440	81,490	80,730
Manufacturing	2,640	2,460	2,560	2,490	2,350	2,490	2,620	3,390	2,640	2,600	2,560	2,570	2,740
Construction	1,380	1,470	1,610	1,310	1,990	2,320	2,190	2,080	2,250	2,270	2,130	1,930	1,940
Services	73,050	72,500	72,360	70,740	71,950	69,130	70,970	70,760	68,350	68,660	71,090	68,870	68,000
Other industries	7,510	7,500	7,540	7,480	7,470	7,670	7,750	7,740	7,670	7,660	7,650	8,120	8,050

Latest reading

Total employment (Labour Force Survey) stood at 34,478 Thousands in Q2 2026. That is +0.2% from Q1 2026 and +0.7% from a year earlier. The series on this page is quarterly and runs from Q1 1999 to Q2 2026. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS); Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Latest: 34,478 Thousands; Q2 2026
vs previous period: +0.2%; Q1 2026
vs a year earlier: +0.7%

About this data

Frequently asked questions

What do UK workforce jobs statistics measure?: Workforce jobs measure the total number of filled jobs across the UK economy, combining employee jobs, self-employment jobs, HM Forces and government-supported trainees across private and public sectors.
Which public sector workforces and industries are broken out separately?: Breakdowns include the NHS, police, civil service and local government, as well as broad industry sections such as wholesale and retail trade, construction, transport, and administrative services.
How are productivity and labour cost indicators presented?: Productivity measures such as UK output per worker, output per hour and unit labour costs are expressed as index numbers based on 2023=100, alongside annual percentage changes.
How far back do these UK employment and jobs figures extend?: Quarterly series for UK workforce jobs and employment split by sector and industry extend back to 1955 and update following each release.