UK payrolled employees: agriculture, forestry and fishing
UK payrolled employees: agriculture, forestry and fishing stood at 193,416 people in Aug 2026, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is one of the indicators in the Pay and employment from PAYE table (Value · Monthly), with a complete series running from Jul 2014 to Aug 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Pay and employment from PAYE table
| Indicator | 08-2026 | 07-2026 | 06-2026 | 05-2026 | 04-2026 | 03-2026 | 02-2026 | 01-2026 | 12-2025 | 11-2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payrolled employees by industry | |||||||||||
| A — Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 193,416 | 193,856 | 194,567 | 195,094 | 194,852 | 196,019 | 195,347 | 195,448 | 195,485 | 195,575 | |
| B — Mining and quarrying | 41,842 | 42,170 | 42,230 | 42,367 | 42,488 | 42,697 | 42,818 | 42,988 | 42,800 | 43,058 |
Understanding UK payrolled employees: agriculture, forestry and fishing
Counting individuals registered on company payrolls within the United Kingdom whose primary economic activity falls under agriculture, forestry and fishing, this series isolates a specific primary sector of the economy. The metric includes all formal employees receiving taxable remuneration through standard employer submissions, while explicitly omitting self-employed farmers, working landowners, and informal seasonal workers paid outside regular PAYE structures. Unlike aggregate totals or manufacturing metrics, this segment reflects biological production cycles and land-based enterprises.
Evaluating this measure demands caution regarding distinct seasonal hiring patterns tied to harvesting and planting periods, which can obscure underlying labour trends. Early monthly estimates frequently undergo revision as smaller agricultural holdings submit their tax returns outside standard schedules. Analysts should avoid direct comparisons with household-based surveys, as the informal nature of much land-based work can create large divergences between tax records and survey responses.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this series include self-employed tenant farmers?
- Self-employed individuals operating their own holdings without formal payroll status are excluded from these tax-based employee counts.
- How do seasonal weather variations affect the reported figures?
- Harvest seasons and weather disruptions cause predictable surges and drops in payroll entries that require seasonal adjustment to interpret correctly.
- Why might seasonal migrant workers appear or disappear from this count?
- Workers engaged for short harvest periods enter and leave formal payroll systems rapidly, generating sharp monthly fluctuations in the data.