Working and workless households in the UK: January to March 2023

The economic status of households in the UK and the people living in them, where at least one person is aged 16 to 64 years. Taken from the Labour Force Survey.

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Contact:
Email Bob Watson

Release date:
31 May 2023

Next release:
30 August 2023

1. Main points

  • Of the estimated 21.3 million households where at least one member is aged 16 to 64 years in the UK, 59.1% had all household members aged 16 years and over in employment during January to March 2023, unchanged compared with the same period last year.

  • There was an estimated 27.2% of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult, down 0.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

  • There was an estimated 13.7% of households where no member of the household was in employment, up 0.2 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

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2. Working and workless households in the UK data

Households by combined economic activity status of household members
Dataset | Released 31 May 2023
Quarterly and historical data on UK households by combined economic activity status of household members.

People by age and combined economic activity status of household members
Dataset | Released 31 May 2023
Quarterly and historical data on people living in UK households by age and combined economic activity status of household members.

Children in households by combined economic activity status of household members
Dataset | Released 31 May 2023
Quarterly and historical data on children living in UK households by combined economic activity status of household members.

Employment rates of people by parental status
Dataset | Released 31 May 2023
Quarterly and historical data on employment rates of people in the UK by parental status.

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3. Measuring the data

Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets are used for analysis of family or household characteristics. For all analysis 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, the number of people:

  • in employment in the household

  • unemployed in the household

  • economically inactive in the household

All estimates in this release are not seasonally adjusted and all comparisons should be carried out on an annual basis (for example, by comparing April to June periods with other April to June periods or October to December periods with other October to December periods). Comparisons made in the datasets associated with this release are between the latest available period, January to March 2023, and January to March 2022.

Coronavirus

For information on how labour market data sources are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see our Coronavirus and the effects on UK labour market statistics article, published on 6 May 2020. This article details some of the challenges that we have faced in producing estimates.

Our Comparison of labour market data sources article, published on 27 April 2022, compares our labour market data sources and discusses some of the main differences.

The population totals used for the latest LFS estimates use projected growth rates from Real-Time Information (RTI) data for EU and non-EU populations based on 2021 patterns. The total population used for the LFS therefore does not take into account any changes in migration, birth rates, death rates, and so on, since June 2021, so levels estimates may be under- or over-estimating the true values and should be used with caution. Estimates of rates will, however, be robust.

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5. Cite this statistical bulletin

Office for National Statistics (ONS), published 31 May 2023, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Working and workless households in the UK: January to March 2023

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Contact details for this Statistical bulletin

Bob Watson
labour.supply@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 1633 455070