Working and workless households in the UK: April to June 2026

• Estimates from January to March 2025 include the full effect of recent improvements in Labour Force Survey (LFS) data collection and sampling methods, introduced from January 2024. 
• Some volatility remains, particularly for estimates from mid-2023 and throughout 2024, and for granular breakdowns, in which sample sizes are smaller. 
• We recommend using LFS estimates as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs, Claimant Count, and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates. 
• Although LFS headline estimates have been reweighted to later population estimates, LFS household estimates remain weighted to population estimates published in November 2023 for periods from October to December 2023 onwards; a discontinuity has been introduced at this point, so users should account for this when considering movements in the series. 
• Of the estimated 22.02 million households (where at least one member is aged 16 to 64 years) in the UK, 59.7% had all household members aged 16 years and over in employment during April to June 2026. 
• There were an estimated 25.9% of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult, and an estimated 14.4% of households where no member of the household was in employment.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets are used for analysis of family or household characteristics. For all analyses in this bulletin, a household is defined as containing at least one person aged 16 to 64 years. This bulletin focuses on the economic status of household members. For example: 

• number of people in employment in the household 
• number of people unemployed in the household 
• number of people economically inactive in the household 

We compare data sources and discuss some of the main differences between data sources in our Comparison of labour market data sources methodology. 

LFS headline estimates are weighted to 2022 mid-year population estimates for periods from January to March 2019. However, LFS household estimates from October to December 2023 onwards remain weighted to information on the size and composition of the UK population. These weighted estimates are consistent with the population estimates published in November 2023, creating a discontinuity from October to December 2023 onwards. Users should account for this discontinuity when considering movements in the series. 

Household estimates for July to September 2023 are not available. All estimates in this release are not seasonally adjusted.  

More information is available in our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: December 2024 article. 

Estimates from January to March 2025 include the full effect of the improvements in LFS data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024. Since then, further changes that were introduced to help increase response levels may have an ongoing impact on the survey. However, some volatility remains, particularly for estimates from mid-2023 and throughout 2024, and for granular breakdowns, in which sample sizes are smaller. Caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from short-term changes, and we advise users to focus on long-term movements in the data. 

We recommend using LFS estimates as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs, Claimant Count, and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates. 

We published an update of our Labour Force Survey quality update: July 2026 article. This article provides users with information about current response rates and known biases in LFS data, to help them better understand the current quality of the data.

Official statistics

Since late 2023, we have taken a series of actions to recover the LFS and improve its quality, including:

• returning to face-to-face interviewing
• increasing respondent incentives
• reinstating the sample boost
• recruiting additional interviewers
• updating the survey weighting

These measures have improved response levels from their lowest point to levels similar to those seen before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

On 11 August 2026, we wrote a letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) stating that LFS and APS-derived outputs that are currently official statistics in development will move to official statistics. We will not be seeking reaccreditation. Instead, our priority is for outputs based on the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) – the online-first sustainable replacement for the LFS and APS – to achieve the standards required to become accredited official statistics, and for the OSR to consider their accreditation at the earliest opportunity.

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