1. Other pages in this release

Other commentary from the latest labour market data can be found on the following pages:

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2. Main points for October to December 2019

  • There were an estimated 29.33 million UK nationals working in the UK, a record high and 227,000 more than a year earlier.

  • There were an estimated 2.31 million EU nationals working in the UK, 36,000 more than a year earlier.

  • There were an estimated 1.34 million non-EU nationals working in the UK, 49,000 more than a year earlier.

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The data in this article come from the Labour Force Survey, a survey of households. It is not practical to survey every household each quarter, so these statistics are estimates based on a large sample.

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3. Employment

Employment measures the number of people aged 16 years and over in paid work. The employment rate is the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who are in paid work.

Between early 2009 and early 2018, the number of non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in the UK was broadly flat (at around 1.20 million); however, there has been a slight increase since, with the level at 1.34 million in October to December 2019.

In contrast, the number of non-UK nationals from the EU working in the UK has generally increased, reflecting the admission of Poland and other East European countries to the EU in 2004. However, the series has been broadly flat since the latter half of 2016, at around 2.30 million.

Looking at employment by nationality between October to December 2018 and October to December 2019, the estimated number of:

  • UK nationals working in the UK increased by 227,000 to a record high of 29.33 million

  • non-UK nationals from the EU working in the UK increased by 36,000 to 2.31 million

  • non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in the UK increased by 49,000 to 1.34 million

Looking at how the figures have changed since the EU referendum (which took place on 23 June 2016), between October to December 2016 and October to December 2019:

  • UK nationals working in the UK increased by 881,000

  • non-UK nationals from the EU working in the UK increased by 71,000

  • non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in the UK increased by 111,000

As shown in Figure 2, the number of people working in the UK who were born in both EU countries and outside the EU has generally increased over the last 20 years (although the rate of increase for the former has slowed since 2016). This contrasts with the figures for non-UK nationals, shown in Figure 1, as the number of non-EU nationals working in the UK has been broadly flat since 2009 (apart from a slight pickup in the last couple of years). This indicates that the increase in non-EU-born people working in the UK has been largely because there are more non-EU-born workers with British nationality.

For October to December 2019, there were a record 5.81 million people born abroad working in the UK, but the number of non-UK nationals working in the UK was much lower, at 3.65 million. This is because the estimates for people born abroad working in the UK include many UK nationals.

Looking at the employment estimates by country of birth between October to December 2018 and October to December 2019, the estimated number of:

  • UK-born people working in the UK increased by 160,000 to a record high of 27.17 million

  • people born in the EU working in the UK increased by 133,000 to 2.44 million, the largest annual increase since January to March 2017

  • people born outside the EU working in the UK increased by 25,000 to 3.37 million

As shown in Figure 3, the employment rate for non-UK nationals from the EU has been higher than that for UK nationals since the mid-2000s, reflecting higher employment rates (and correspondingly low economic inactivity rates) for migrants from East European countries within the EU. The employment rates for both series have generally been increasing since 2012, but in October to December 2019 there was an annual decrease in the rate for EU nationals (down to 82.4%) for the first time since April to June 2016. In contrast, the employment rate for UK nationals increased on the year to a record high of 76.7%.

The estimated employment rates for non-UK nationals from outside the EU have been consistently lower than that for UK nationals and for EU nationals, partly because of lower participation in the labour market from some population groups; for example, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.

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4. Unemployment

Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. The unemployment rate is the proportion of all employed and unemployed people (not the proportion of the total population) who are unemployed.

As shown in Figure 4, the unemployment rate for non-UK nationals from the EU has been broadly similar to that for UK nationals, but the unemployment rate for non-UK nationals from outside the EU has been consistently higher. The unemployment rates for non-UK nationals are more volatile than the rates for UK nationals because of smaller sample sizes resulting in sampling variability issues, as explained in the Strengths and limitations section of this article.

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5. Economic inactivity

Economic inactivity measures people without a job but who are not classed as unemployed because they have not been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and/or they are unable to start work within the next two weeks. Our headline measure of economic inactivity is for those aged from 16 to 64 years.

As shown in Figure 5, the economic inactivity rate for non-UK nationals from the EU has been lower than that for UK nationals since the mid-2000s. This reflects low economic inactivity rates (and correspondingly high employment rates) among migrants from East European countries within the EU.

The economic inactivity rates for non-UK nationals from outside the EU have been consistently higher than those for UK nationals and EU nationals, partly because of lower participation in the labour market from some population groups; for example, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.

Note that the economic inactivity rates for non-UK nationals are more volatile than the rates for UK nationals because of smaller sample sizes, although they are less volatile than the unemployment rates shown in Figure 4. This is a result of sampling variability issues, as explained in the Strengths and limitations section of this article.

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6. Employment data

Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by nationality and country of birth
Dataset A12 | Released 18 February 2020
Estimates of labour market activity by nationality and country of birth sourced from the Labour Force Survey.

Employment by nationality and country of birth
Dataset EMP06 | Released 18 February 2020
Estimates of employment by nationality and country of birth sourced from the Labour Force Survey. This dataset provides a more detailed country breakdown of employment than that available in Dataset A12.

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7. Glossary

Country of birth

Country of birth refers to the country that a person was born in and cannot change. However, not all non-UK-born people are foreign nationals. The numbers of non-UK-born people include British citizens who were born abroad, such as children of military personnel or other British workers stationed abroad.

Economic inactivity

People not in the labour force (also known as economically inactive) are not in employment but do not meet the internationally accepted definition of unemployment because they have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or they are unable to start work in the next two weeks. The economic inactivity rate is the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who are not in the labour force.

Employment

Employment measures the number of people in paid work, or who had a job that they were temporarily away from (for example, because they were on holiday or off sick). This differs from the number of jobs because some people have more than one job. The employment rate is the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who are in paid work.

Nationality

Nationality refers to the nationality stated by the Labour Force Survey respondent when they were interviewed. Nationality can change over time; for example, some people come to the UK as non-UK nationals and later obtain British citizenship. Some non-UK nationals, such as children of overseas nationals, were born in the UK.

Unemployment

Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. The unemployment rate is not the proportion of the total population who are unemployed. It is the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed.

A more detailed Glossary is available.

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8. Measuring the data

As the UK leaves the EU, it is important that our statistics continue to be of high quality and are internationally comparable. During the transition period, those UK statistics that align with EU practice and rules will continue to do so in the same way as before 31 January 2020.

After the transition period, we will continue to produce our labour market statistics in line with the UK Statistics Authority’s (UKSA’s) Code of Practice for Statistics and in accordance with International Labour Organization (ILO) definitions and agreed international statistical guidance.

This article relies on data collected from the Labour Force Survey, the largest household survey in the UK.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the Labour Force Survey QMI.

The Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring reports provide data on response rates and other quality-related issues for the Labour Force Survey.

Comparing nationality with country of birth

Non-UK born people with British nationality have the same entitlements, such as access to the labour market and to the benefits system, as UK born British citizens. The nationality and country of birth series can be used for different purposes. The non-UK born measure indicates that a person came to reside in the UK having been born abroad and may be useful when analysing long-term movements of people. However, immigration rules apply on the basis of nationality, not country of birth, so any indication of the impact of changes in immigration policy would tend to use measures of foreign nationality, not the numbers of people born abroad. Similarly, nationality is the preferable measure to use when seeking to understand the interactions of migrants with, for example, the labour market, the benefits system, housing, education and the National Health Service.

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9. Strengths and limitations

The figures in this article come from the Labour Force Survey, which gathers information from a sample of households across the UK rather than from the whole population. The sample is designed to be as accurate as possible given practical limitations such as time and cost constraints. Results from sample surveys are always estimates, not precise figures. This can have an impact on how changes in the estimates should be interpreted, especially for short-term comparisons. In addition, the estimates are not seasonally adjusted so comparisons of change should only be made based on the same period each year.

As the number of people available in the sample gets smaller, the variability of the estimates that we can make from that sample size gets larger. Estimates for small groups (for example, South African nationals working in the UK), which are based on quite small subsets of the Labour Force Survey sample, are less reliable and tend to be more volatile than for larger aggregated groups (for example, the total number of non-UK nationals in employment).

In general, changes in the numbers (and especially the rates) reported in this article between three-month periods are small and are not usually greater than the level that can be explained by sampling variability. Short-term movements in reported rates should be considered alongside longer-term patterns in the series and corresponding movements in other sources to give a fuller picture.

These statistics do not measure stocks or flows of recent migrants to the UK, because they include people resident in the UK for many years (many of whom will now be UK nationals) as well as more recent arrivals. This, along with a range of other factors, means that net changes in the number of non-UK workers in the UK cannot be directly compared with long-term net migration for non-UK nationals. Estimates of migration are published separately in the Migration Statistics Quarterly Report.

The employment estimates in this article do not relate to “new jobs” and cannot be used to estimate the proportion of new jobs that have been filled by UK and non-UK workers. This is because changes in the employment series show net changes in the number of people in work (the number of people entering employment minus the number of people leaving employment). The number of people entering or leaving employment is much larger than the net changes. Also, the estimates of the number of people in work differ from the number of jobs because some people have more than one job.

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Contact details for this Article

Bob Watson
Labour.Supply@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 455070