FOI reference: FOI-2024-2220
You asked
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding employment and unemployment statistics for the United Kingdom. Specifically, I would like to obtain data comparing the following categories:
- Number of persons employed by the UK government, including:
- Direct employees of the UK government.
- Contractors whose only client is the UK government or a government-controlled entity.
- Number of persons employed in the private sector (i.e., employed outside of the government sector).
- Number of persons classified as unemployed.
As for data organisation, I would appreciate if it could be organised as follows:
Geographic Breakdown:
- Grouped by Country (e.g., England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland).
- Further subdivided by City/Town (e.g., Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast).
Time Frame: the most recent year available
Format: preferably in an electronic format such as Excel or CSV.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Employment in central government was an estimated 3.79 million in June 2024 and there were 546,000 employees in the Civil Service. Employment in the private sector was 27.29 million in June 2024.
More information, including country and regional public sector employment, can be found in Public sector employment, UK: June 2024. Unfortunately, sub-regional level data is not held. The Public Sector Classification Guide is a list of bodies that have been classified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as public sector bodies within the National Accounts and provides additional information on what is classed as central government.
Unfortunately we do not hold information on contractors whose only client is the UK government.
The estimated number of persons in unemployment in the UK in May to July 2024 was 1,437,000. More information can be found in Employment in the UK: September 2024. Additional information can be found in Labour market in the regions of the UK: September 2024, with sub-regional data available in LI01 Regional labour market: local indicators for counties, local and unitary authorities.