Employment by industry

Release date:
20 April 2018

You asked

I’d like to find out which sectors those classified as LFS SIC code 81 (81 : Services to buildings and landscape activities) work in (e.g. healthcare, education, hotels and hospitality, local authority, government etc). I’m interested in latest available data.

We said

Thank you for your request. Our interpretation of your request is that you require estimates for the number of people working in employers classified as belonging to SIC code 81 broken down by the legal status of those employers. It is not possible for us to provide information on the number of people working within SIC code 81 by industrial sector as SIC codes are distinct and mutually exclusive. So, for example, someone couldn’t be working within both SIC codes 81 and 85 (education); it’s either one or the other. It is also important to note that, from a UK SIC 2007 perspective, classification within division 81 is dependent wholly on the activity undertaken and no account is taken as to whom the service is provided.

Our main source for employment estimates by industry is the UK Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). This survey provides employment estimates down to 5-digit SIC level but does not provide estimates broken down by legal status, see;

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/industry235digitsicbusinessregisterandemploymentsurveybrestable

An alternative source for employment by industry is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The industry status in the LFS is based on the respondent’s self-classification so it may not match the official industry status for their employer on the business register. However, using the LFS it is possible to break employment down by industry and ‘sector’ (which, in this case, is a proxy for the legal status of the employer). On the LFS there is a question which asks whether the respondent works for a private business or some other kind of organisation. The follow-up question, if the answer is not ‘private’, asks what kind of non-private organisation it is. The options include central government or civil service, local government or council, health authority or NHS Trust, etc. (for further details see page 39 of Volume 2 of the LFS User Guide, here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyuserguidance/vol2js17forpublishing.pdf).

If you’re interested in this type of analysis from the LFS then information about how to obtain the data is provided below.

Another interpretation of your question is that you are interested in which occupations – i.e. which Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes - appear within SIC code 81. The LFS provides the most timely employment estimates of SIC broken down by SOC, but at lower levels of disaggregation there are quality issues associated with these estimates as the sample size isn't large enough. A better, though less timely, source for this information is the 2011 Census. You can access the information (for England and Wales only) via the nomis website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk). From the home page of nomis follow these instructions:

1) Click on 'Query data' under the 'Data Downloads' section.

2) Select 'Census 2011' then 'Ad-hoc Tables' then 'CT0144 - Occupation (full) by industry (full) (national)'.

3) In the 'Industry' category untick 'All categories: Industry (full)' and tick '81.1', ’81.2’ and ’81.3’ only.

4) In the 'Occupation' category tick any of the five boxes at the top depending on what level of detail you’re interested in (e.g. tick the fifth box only if you’re interested in a breakdown by 4-digit SOC).

5) Review your selections, choose a format to download your data in and then click 'Download Data'.

The resulting output will give you estimates for the number of people employed within SIC code 81 broken down by the level of SOC code you selected.

If the BRES and Census data are not suitable and, despite the caveats noted above, the LFS data better meet your needs then the we do provide a bespoke service for LFS analysis. Special extracts and tabulations of data are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries should be made to the customer services team of the ONS Social Surveys Division (socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk). As this information is already available to you via this route, we considers that s.21(1) applies to this request and the information does not have to be supplied under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. S.21(1) is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest test needs to be applied.

Another route would be to access the anonymised LFS datasets at the UK Data Service if you are able to run your own analysis. Details of how to access the data can be found here:

http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access.aspx

Data can be downloaded free of charge for non-commercial purposes but if charges are applicable, you will be notified during the ordering process. Further details are available at the following links:

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