Industry (current) variable: Census 2021

Definition of industry (current), categories, and changes since the 2011 Census for use with research and analysis using Census 2021 data.

Last updated:
28 November 2023

Mnemonic: industry_current
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable

Definition

Classifies people aged 16 years and over who were in employment between 15 March and 21 March 2021 by the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code that represents their current industry or business.

The SIC code is assigned based on the information provided about a firm or organisation’s main activity.

Classification

Total number of categories: 88

Code Name
1 01 Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities
2 02 Forestry and logging
3 03 Fishing and aquaculture
4 05 Mining of coal and lignite
5 06 Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas
6 07 Mining of metal ores
7 08 Other mining and quarrying
8 09 Mining support service activities
9 10 Manufacture of food products
10 11 Manufacture of beverages
11 12 Manufacture of tobacco products
12 13 Manufacture of textiles
13 14 Manufacture of wearing apparel
14 15 Manufacture of leather and related products
15 16 Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials
16 17 Manufacture of paper and paper products
17 18 Printing and reproduction of recorded media
18 19 Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products
19 20 Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
20 21 Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations
21 22 Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
22 23 Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products
23 24 Manufacture of basic metals
24 25 Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
25 26 Manufacture of computer, electrical and optical products
26 27 Manufacture of electrical equipment
27 28 Manufacture of machinery and equipment not otherwise specified
28 29 Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers
29 30 Manufacture of other transport equipment
30 31 Manufacture of furniture
31 32 Other Manufacturing
32 33 Repair and installation of machinery and equipment
33 35 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
34 36 Water collection, treatment and supply
35 37 Sewerage
36 38 Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery
37 39 Remediation activities and other waste management services
38 41 Construction of buildings; 42 Civil engineering; 43 Specialised construction activities
39 45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
40 46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
41 47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
42 48 Wholesale and retail not otherwise specified
43 49 Land transport and transport via pipelines
44 50 Water transport
45 51 Air transport
46 52 Warehousing and support activities for transportation
47 53 Postal and courier activities
48 55 Accommodation
49 56 Food and beverage service activities
50 58 Publishing activities
51 59 Motion picture, video and television production, sound recording and music publishing activities
52 60 Programming and broadcasting activities
53 61 Telecommunications
54 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities
55 63 Information service activities
56 64 Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding
57 65 Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security
58 66 Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities
59 68 Real estate activities
60 69 Legal and accounting activities
61 70 Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
62 71 Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis
63 72 Scientific research and development
64 73 Advertising and market research
65 74 Other professional, scientific and technical activities
66 75 Veterinary activities
67 77 Rental and leasing activities
68 78 Employment activities
69 79 Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities
70 80 Security and investigation activities
71 81 Services to buildings and landscape activities
72 82 Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
73 84 Public administration and defence; compulsory social security
74 85 Education
75 86 Human health activities
76 87 Residential care activities
77 88 Social work activities without accommodation
78 90 Creative, arts and entertainment activities
79 91 Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities
80 92 Gambling and betting activities
81 93 Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities
82 94 Activities of membership organisations
83 95 Repair of computers and personal and household goods
84 96 Other personal service activities
85 97 Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel
86 98 Undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of private households for own use
87 99 Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies
-8 Does not apply*

*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, children aged 15 years and under, and people who were not employed in the week before 21 March 2021.

View all industry (current) 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

Highly comparable

What does highly comparable mean?

A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from the 2011 Census. 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.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons

Broadly comparable

The variable produced for England, Wales and Northern Ireland provides more detail on someone's current industry than Scotland.

What does broadly comparable mean?

A variable that is broadly comparable means that outputs from Census 2021 in England and Wales can generally be compared with Scotland and Northern Ireland. Differences in how the data were collected or presented may reduce the ability to fully harmonise on outputs, but some harmonisation is still expected.

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:

Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.

Other datasets that use this variable