UK total employment: Labour Force Survey
UK total employment: Labour Force Survey stood at 34,478 thousands in Q2 2026, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is one of the indicators in the Jobs by industry and sector table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 1999 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Jobs by industry and sector table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Private sector employment | 28,271 | 28,215 | 28,121 | 28,039 | 28,061 | 27,872 | 27,788 | 27,661 | 27,493 | 27,228 | |
| Public sector share of all employment | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18.1 | 18 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 18.1 | 18.3 |
Understanding UK total employment: Labour Force Survey
This series counts individuals aged sixteen and over resident in the United Kingdom who reported undertaking paid work as employees or self-employed persons, alongside unpaid family workers and participants on government-supported training schemes. Collected via a household survey rather than business returns, this metric captures total people rather than total positions, meaning individuals holding multiple roles are counted only once at their main occupation. Unpaid volunteers and people residing in institutional settings such as prisons or nursing homes are excluded from the sample frame.
Interpreting this household-based measure requires accounting for sampling variability inherent in survey estimates, which can cause erratic movements between successive quarters that do not reflect underlying economic shifts. Analysts should focus on rolling quarterly changes or compare twelve-month spans to filter out regular seasonal patterns driven by student migration and temporary agricultural harvesting. Analysts frequently confuse this individual count with employer-reported metrics, forgetting that shifts in self-employment can drive wedges between people-based measures and establishment-based job tallies.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does this count individuals rather than positions?
- The household survey format logs people according to their main economic status, so someone with a second job is only counted once.
- Are students working part-time included in this metric?
- Yes, any person aged sixteen and over who performed paid work during the reference week is captured regardless of student status.
- How frequently is the sample frame updated?
- Population weights are adjusted continuously using official demographic projections to maintain alignment with population totals.