Economic activity status variable: Census 2021

Mnemonic: economic_activity
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable

Definition

People aged 16 years and over are economically active if, between 15 March and 21 March 2021, they were:

• in employment (an employee or self-employed)
• unemployed, but looking for work and could start within two weeks
• unemployed, but waiting to start a job that had been offered and accepted

It is a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market during this period. Economically inactive are those aged 16 years and over who did not have a job between 15 March to 21 March 2021 and had not looked for work between 22 February to 21 March 2021 or could not start work within two weeks.

The census definition differs from International Labour Organization definition used on the Labour Force Survey, so estimates are not directly comparable.

This classification splits out full-time students from those who are not full-time students when they are employed or unemployed. It is recommended to sum these together to look at all of those in employment or unemployed, or to use the four category labour market classification, if you want to look at all those with a particular labour market status.

Classification

Total number of categories: 20

Code	Name
1	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee: Part-time
2	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee: Full-time
3	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees: Part-time
4	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees: Full-time
5	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed without employees: Part-time
6	Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed without employees: Full-time
7	Economically active (excluding full-time students): Unemployed: Seeking work or waiting to start a job already obtained: Available to start working within 2 weeks
8	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Employee: Part-time
9	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Employee: Full-time
10	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Self-employed with employees: Part-time
11	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Self-employed with employees: Full-time
12	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Self-employed without employees: Part-time
13	Economically active and a full-time student: In employment: Self-employed without employees: Full-time
14	Economically active and a full-time student: Unemployed: Seeking work or waiting to start a job already obtained: Available to start working within 2 weeks
15	Economically inactive: Retired
16	Economically inactive: Student
17	Economically inactive: Looking after home or family
18	Economically inactive: Long-term sick or disabled
19	Economically inactive: Other
-8	Does not apply*

*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, and children aged 15 years and under.

View all economic activity status classifications.

Quality information

As Census 2021 was during a unique period of rapid change, take care when using Labour Market data for planning purposes.

Read more in our Labour market quality information for Census 2021 methodology.

Background

Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.

Comparability with the 2011 Census

Broadly comparable

We changed some of the wording on the Census 2021 questionnaire and removed some of the options that people could choose from.

What does broadly comparable mean?

A variable that is broadly comparable means that it can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census. However, changes may have been made to the question or options that people could choose from or how write-in answers are classified.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons

Highly comparable

What does highly comparable mean?

A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from Scotland and Northern Ireland. The questions and options that people could choose from may be slightly different, for example the order of the options may be swapped around, but the data collected is the same.

Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.

Census 2021 data that uses this variable

We use variables from Census 2021 data to show findings in different ways.

You can:

• get the economic activity status dataset
• view economic activity status data on a map
• read about how an area has changed in 10 years
• view economic activity status data for an area on Nomis (an Office for National Statistics service)

Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.

Other datasets that use this variable

• Economic activity status by country of birth
• Economic activity status by ethnic group
• Economic activity status by passports held
• Economic activity status by provision of unpaid care by general health
• Economic activity status by religion
• Economic activity status by sex by age
• Economic activity status by sex by unemployment history
• Highest level of qualification by economic activity status
• Industry by economic activity status
• NS-SEC by economic activity status
• Occupation by economic activity status
• Proficiency in English by economic activity status
• Provision of unpaid care by households with people with a disability by economic activity status
• Tenure by economic activity status - Household Reference Persons
• Veterans by economic activity status
• Gender identity by economic activity status
• Sexual orientation by economic activity status
• Economic activity status by living arrangements
• Family status by number of parents working by economic activity status
• Number of non-UK born short-term residents by economic activity
• Economic activity (parishes)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (country inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (country outflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (lower tier local authority inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (lower tier local authority outflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (Middle layer Super Output Area inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (Middle layer Super Output Area outflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (national inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (region inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (region outflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (upper tier local authority inflow)
• Migration by economic activity and hours worked per week (upper tier local authority outflow)
• Cornish national identity by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Kashmiri ethnic group by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by hours worked by disability
• Cornish national identity by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Kashmiri ethnic group by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by provision of unpaid care by economic activity by general health
• Cornish national identity by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Kashmiri ethnic group by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by age by sex by highest level of qualification by economic activity
• Cornish national identity by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Kashmiri ethnic group by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by economic activity by general health by provision of unpaid care
• Cornish national identity by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Kashmiri ethnic group by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by sex by NS-SEC by economic activity
• Out of term-time population by economic activity status
• Second address population by economic activity status
• Workday population by economic activity status
• Workplace population by economic activity status
• Origin and destination of migrants by economic activity (lower tier local authorities)
• Origin and destination of migrants by economic activity (upper tier local authorities)
• Origin and destination of migrants by economic activity by age and sex
• Location of usual residence and second address by economic activity (lower tier local authorities)
• Location of usual residence and second address by economic activity (upper tier local authorities)
• Location of usual residence and second address by second address type by economic activity
• Origin and destination of people who moved from a student term-time or boarding school address in the UK in the year before the census by economic activity (lower tier local authorities)
• Origin and destination of people who moved from a student term-time or boarding school address in the UK in the year before the census by economic activity (upper tier local authorities)
• Location of usual residence and place of work by economic activity
• Location of usual residence and place of work by age by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by method of travel to work by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by NS-SEC by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by industry by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by occupation by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by approximated social grade by sex by student employment status
• Location of usual residence and place of work by ethnic group by sex by student employment status 
• Location of usual residence and place of work by passport held by sex by student employment status
• Economic activity status by hours worked by sex by long-term health problem or disability