Revisions to workforce jobs: December 2025

• We make regular adjustments to workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates in December of each year to improve quality and coherence with other Office for National Statistics (ONS) business surveys, resulting in revisions to the series.

• Adjustments include benchmarking the short-term employee jobs series to the latest estimates from the annual Business Register and Employment Survey, changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review, and incorporating revisions to Public Sector Employment estimates, Northern Ireland employee jobs estimates, government-supported trainees (GST) administrative data, and Short-Term Employment Surveys estimates.

• Revisions to WFJ have mostly decreased the estimates, with the largest impact in June 2025, which saw a decrease of 175,000 (0.5%), largely caused by a decrease of 177,000 (0.5%) in employee jobs.

Workforce jobs (WFJ) is a quarterly measure of the number of jobs in the UK and is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry. It is a compound source that draws on a range of employer surveys, household surveys and administrative sources. WFJ is the sum of:

• employee jobs (EJ) measured primarily by employer surveys (predominantly) the Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES) and the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES)

• self-employment jobs (SEJ) from the Labour Force Survey (LFS)

• government-supported trainees (GST) and His Majesty's Forces (HMF) from the devolved administrations, administrative sources and LFS.

A variety of outputs by industry, region, sex, and full-time or part-time status are produced for a range of publications and users, with latest estimates published as part of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: December 2025 bulletin.

Benchmarking Great Britain employee jobs to the Business Register and Employment Survey

Benchmarking is an annual process used to align the quarterly Great Britain employee jobs (EJ) series to the latest estimates from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). BRES is based on a sample of approximately 87,000 reporting units, which hold the mailing addresses to which survey questionnaires are sent (questionnaires can cover the enterprise or parts of the enterprise identified by lists of local units). This is a much larger sample than the Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES) and is therefore generally considered to produce more accurate and detailed estimates of the level of employment.

BRES estimates refer to September of a given year. The private sector element of the Great Britain EJ series has been benchmarked to the equivalent of BRES for the periods September 2023 and September 2024 (the latest period available).

Further enhancement to the benchmarking methodology improved estimates since the last benchmarking exercise, leading to smaller revisions to the estimates this year.

Revisions to public sector employment

WFJ estimates include our official Public Sector Employment (PSE) estimates for Great Britain, which are not benchmarked because they are the definitive measure of PSE. These latest PSE data include revisions from March 2024 onwards, which result from taking on updated sources of additional information.

Revisions to Short-Term Employment Surveys

The private sector employee jobs data come from sample surveys. Each quarter, revisions to data supplied or late data are incorporated for the previous quarter in line with the revisions policy. Revisions or late data for June 2025 have now been included. These revisions are in line with our revisions policy, as set out in our Workforce jobs QMI.

Revisions to government-supported trainees

Estimates of government-supported trainees (GSTs) are taken from data supplied by the Devolved Administrations (DAs) and from the LFS. Revised estimates of Government Supported Trainees taken on from the DAs caused revisions back to September 2023.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is the process of identifying and removing the seasonal components from a series to leave the underlying trend and irregular components. Each year, official statistics undergo a seasonal adjustment review to assess the suitability of seasonal parameters applied to the data. The revised WFJ series has undergone a seasonal adjustment review, which has been aligned with the benchmarking process, causing minor revisions back to September 1981.

We make adjustments to workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates in December of each year to improve quality and coherence with our other business surveys, resulting in revisions to the series. Figure 1 shows the impact of these revisions.

The revisions to workforce jobs have mostly decreased the estimates. The largest impact is in June 2025, with a fall of 175,000 (down 0.5%) between previously published and revised estimates. More detail on the causes of the revisions and the revisions periods is available in Section 6: Data sources and quality.

The revisions to employee jobs have mostly decreased the estimates. The largest impact is in June 2025 with a fall of 177,000 (down 0.5%) between previously published and revised estimates. More detail on the causes of the revisions and the revisions periods is available in Section 6: Data sources and quality.

Workforce jobs

Workforce jobs is a quarterly measure of the number of jobs in the UK. It is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry.

Jobs

A job is an activity performed for an employer or customer by a worker in exchange for payment, usually in cash, in kind, or both.

The number of jobs is not the same as the number of people in employment. This is because a person can have more than one job. The number of jobs is the sum of employee jobs from employer surveys, self-employment jobs from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), government-supported trainees, and those in HM Forces. The number of people in employment is measured by the LFS; these estimates are available in our Employment in the UK bulletin.

A more detailed glossary is available.

This article explains, in detail, the revisions that have been made to the workforce jobs (WFJ) series because of:

• benchmarking to the latest estimates from our annual Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES); these revisions will go back to December 2022

• revisions to public sector employment (PSE); these revisions will go back to March 2024

• revisions to Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES) from June 2025, because of updates in data supplied or late data

• revisions to Northern Ireland employee jobs from June 2023, because of updates in data supplied or late data

• changes to seasonal parameters for Northern Ireland employee jobs from March 2005

• revised estimates of government-supported trainees taken on from the devolved administrations caused revisions back to September 2023

• changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review; these revisions will go back to September 1981

Workforce jobs data sources

There are four components of the WFJ series, each with its own data sources:

• employee jobs in Great Britain

• self-employment jobs

• government-supported trainees

• HM Forces

Employee jobs in Great Britain

Private sector data are from STES, which are benchmarked to the BRES.

Public sector data sources are public sector employment (PSE) from our Quarterly Public Sector Employment Surveys (QPSES) and administrative sources from other government departments and devolved administrations.

Agriculture data sources are the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is benchmarked to BRES, based on BRES survey responses and farms data sourced from a range of suppliers.

Air transport data are from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which are benchmarked to BRES.

Data for Northern Ireland are from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Self-employment jobs

Data are from the LFS, including main and second jobs by industry by region.

Government-supported trainees

Data for England are from the LFS.

Data for Wales are from the Welsh Government, split by industry using the LFS.

Data for Scotland are from the Scottish Government, split by industry using the LFS.

Data for Northern Ireland are from the Department for the Economy, split by industry using the LFS.

HM Forces

Data are from the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA).