FOI/2021/2754
You asked
Please supply the following information:
Data with percentages of identified autistic people living in wales who were unemployed during the last 10 years (26th July 2011 - 26th July 2021)
We said
Thank you for your query.
We estimate unemployment rates for people with physical and mental health conditions and illnesses from the Annual Population Survey (APS). The APS is a household survey, based on interviews with sampled households, which asks questions to determine the labour market status of individuals, along with characteristic information, including health problems.
Prior to 2020, the health questions on APS did not separately identify someone with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). On APS, the health questions generally group people by the nature of their conditions, rather than classifying them based on specific diagnosis or disorders. Consequently, someone with ASD could have classified themselves within several categories, such as severe or specific learning disabilities, along with people with a range of other different disabilities, depending on how their ASD affects them.
From January 2020, a new category was introduced to APS specifically for people with ASD, with the first APS dataset since its introduction, covering the twelve-month period for January to December 2020 being produced in April 2021.
We do not hold any analysis from this dataset covering this new variable. However, earlier this year a report of Outcomes for disabled people in the UK was produced that looked at UK employment rates based on a part-year dataset.
Analysis from the full January to December 2020 dataset looking at unemployment rates for people with ASD in Wales may be available to commission as bespoke analysis. Due to sample sizes, the estimate for the percentage of people with ASD who are unemployed in Wales may be subject to large sampling variability. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contactsocialsurveys@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there may be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.