COVID-19 deaths by job sector

You asked

Please can you provide me with Coronavirus deaths recorded during this current Pandemic recorded in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by job sector.

I'm specifically wanting to know how many bus workers especially bus drivers have contracted and sadly been killed by this virus.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

We are responsible for mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

On 26 June 2020 we published the following bulletin analysing deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) in different occupational groups among those aged 20 to 64 years in England and Wales: Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales: deaths registered between 9 March and 25 May 2020. The information requested can be found on Table 6a of this bulletin. This is also provided in the following table:

Because of the higher number of deaths among men, 17 specific occupations were found to have raised rates of death involving COVID-19, some of which included: taxi drivers and chauffeurs (65.3 deaths per 100,000; 134 deaths); bus and coach drivers (44.2 deaths per 100,000; 53 deaths); chefs (56.8 deaths per 100,000; 49 deaths); and sales and retail assistants (34.2 deaths per 100,000; 43 deaths).

In this group, at a more granular level, road transport drivers were found to account for the largest proportion of deaths (67.7% of the major group deaths, or 35.2 deaths per 100,000 men).

Among road transport drivers (Figure 3), taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs had the highest rate, with 65.3 deaths per 100,000 men (134 deaths). Other occupations with significantly higher rates include bus and coach drivers, with 44.2 deaths per 100,000 men (53 deaths), and van drivers (26.7 deaths per 100,000 men; 66 deaths).

Among women, as seen in our previous release, only one of the nine major occupational groups had a statistically significantly higher mortality rate for deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) than the rate of death involving COVID-19 among women of the same age in the general population. That was the caring, leisure and other service occupations, which had a rate of 15.4 deaths per 100,000 women, equivalent to 264 deaths. Bus driving was not part the nine occupational groups and therefore, unfortunately, we do not hold this data.

Additional information:

Occupation was defined using the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC 2010). There are nine major groups of occupations (for example, skilled trades occupations), which then subdivide into 25 sub-major groups (for example, skilled construction and building trades). Sub-major groups can be subdivided into a further 90 minor groups (for example, building finishing trades) and more than 350 individual occupations (for example, painters and decorators). For further information on the definition of occupation, see the Glossary.

If you have any questions relating to this dataset, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk