Employment by professional status (ICSE-93) in United Kingdom
United Kingdom: Employment by professional status (ICSE-93) was 34,160 Persons in 2025. ▲ Rising
Employment by professional status in United Kingdom, 1956–2025
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Persons.
Analysis
The most recent figure for employment by professional status in United Kingdom is 34,160 Persons, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 70 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.6% on the previous year and up 9.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, employment by professional status in United Kingdom peaked at 34,160 Persons in 2025 and was at its lowest, 23,060 Persons, in 1958.
That places United Kingdom 7th out of 33 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 70 years of available data.
Employment by professional status (ICSE-93) in United Kingdom, year by year
| Year | Persons | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 23,149 Persons | — |
| 1957 | 23,237 Persons | +0.4% |
| 1958 | 23,060 Persons | -0.8% |
| 1959 | 23,187 Persons | +0.6% |
| 1960 | 23,660 Persons | +2.0% |
| 1961 | 23,978 Persons | +1.3% |
| 1962 | 24,185 Persons | +0.9% |
| 1963 | 24,230 Persons | +0.2% |
| 1964 | 24,522 Persons | +1.2% |
| 1965 | 24,776 Persons | +1.0% |
| 1966 | 24,934 Persons | +0.6% |
| 1967 | 24,570 Persons | -1.5% |
| 1968 | 24,436 Persons | -0.5% |
| 1969 | 24,478 Persons | +0.2% |
| 1970 | 24,381 Persons | -0.4% |
| 1971 | 24,165 Persons | -0.9% |
| 1972 | 24,139 Persons | -0.1% |
| 1973 | 24,715 Persons | +2.4% |
| 1974 | 24,803 Persons | +0.4% |
| 1975 | 24,719 Persons | -0.3% |
| 1976 | 24,509 Persons | -0.8% |
| 1977 | 24,538 Persons | +0.1% |
| 1978 | 24,696 Persons | +0.6% |
| 1979 | 25,080 Persons | +1.6% |
| 1980 | 25,004 Persons | -0.3% |
| 1981 | 24,011 Persons | -4.0% |
| 1982 | 23,584 Persons | -1.8% |
| 1983 | 23,304 Persons | -1.2% |
| 1984 | 23,854 Persons | +2.4% |
| 1985 | 24,250 Persons | +1.7% |
| 1986 | 24,380 Persons | +0.5% |
| 1987 | 24,754 Persons | +1.5% |
| 1988 | 25,708 Persons | +3.9% |
| 1989 | 26,549 Persons | +3.3% |
| 1990 | 26,818 Persons | +1.0% |
| 1991 | 26,058 Persons | -2.8% |
| 1992 | 25,435 Persons | -2.4% |
| 1993 | 25,088 Persons | -1.4% |
| 1994 | 25,253 Persons | +0.7% |
| 1995 | 25,489 Persons | +0.9% |
| 1996 | 25,727 Persons | +0.9% |
| 1997 | 26,155 Persons | +1.7% |
| 1998 | 26,395 Persons | +0.9% |
| 1999 | 26,691 Persons | +1.1% |
| 2000 | 27,484 Persons | +3.0% |
| 2001 | 27,712 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2002 | 27,944 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2003 | 28,223 Persons | +1.0% |
| 2004 | 28,533 Persons | +1.1% |
| 2005 | 28,853 Persons | +1.1% |
| 2006 | 29,141 Persons | +1.0% |
| 2007 | 29,379 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2008 | 29,628 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2009 | 29,154 Persons | -1.6% |
| 2010 | 29,227 Persons | +0.2% |
| 2011 | 29,374 Persons | +0.5% |
| 2012 | 29,694 Persons | +1.1% |
| 2013 | 30,042 Persons | +1.2% |
| 2014 | 30,752 Persons | +2.4% |
| 2015 | 31,285 Persons | +1.7% |
| 2016 | 31,746 Persons | +1.5% |
| 2017 | 32,060 Persons | +1.0% |
| 2018 | 32,443 Persons | +1.2% |
| 2019 | 32,919 Persons | +1.5% |
| 2020 | 32,555 Persons | -1.1% |
| 2021 | 32,552 Persons | -0.0% |
| 2022 | 32,956 Persons | +1.2% |
| 2023 | 33,349 Persons | +1.2% |
| 2024 | 33,613 Persons | +0.8% |
| 2025 | 34,160 Persons | +1.6% |
United Kingdom compared with similar countries
- United Kingdom's 34,160 Persons is above the median for high income countries, which is 5,200 Persons, 6.6× the median. (30 countries reporting)
- United Kingdom's 34,160 Persons is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 5,016 Persons, 6.8× the median. (22 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 23,158 Persons | 23,060 Persons | 23,237 Persons | 4 |
| 1960s | 24,377 Persons | 23,660 Persons | 24,934 Persons | 10 |
| 1970s | 24,574 Persons | 24,139 Persons | 25,080 Persons | 10 |
| 1980s | 24,540 Persons | 23,304 Persons | 26,549 Persons | 10 |
| 1990s | 25,911 Persons | 25,088 Persons | 26,818 Persons | 10 |
| 2000s | 28,605 Persons | 27,484 Persons | 29,628 Persons | 10 |
| 2010s | 30,954 Persons | 29,227 Persons | 32,919 Persons | 10 |
| 2020s | 33,197 Persons | 32,552 Persons | 34,160 Persons | 6 |
Countries ranked near United Kingdom
- 4 Japan 68,280 Persons compare
- 4 Lithuania 1,463 Persons compare
- 5 Mexico 59,440 Persons compare
- 5 Slovenia 996.6 Persons compare
- 6 Germany 42,726 Persons compare
- 6 Latvia 889.67 Persons compare
- 7 Estonia 698.77 Persons compare
- 8 France 29,328 Persons compare
- 9 Italy 24,117 Persons compare
- 10 Colombia 23,827 Persons compare
More work & labour data for United Kingdom
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 22,956 (2027)
- Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) 60.91 (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 35,770 (2027)
- Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimates) 4.93 (2027)
- Labour dependency ratio 1.07 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2021 international $ at PPP 111,361 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2015 US $ 100,223 (2027)
- Employment-to-population ratio (ILO modelled estimates) 57.91 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+) 1.47 % change on previous year (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+), annual growth rate 0.4352 % change on previous year (2027)
Frequently asked questions
- What is employment by professional status in United Kingdom?
- Employment by professional status in United Kingdom was 34,160 Persons in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest employment by professional status recorded in United Kingdom?
- The highest recorded value was 34,160 Persons in 2025.
- What is the lowest employment by professional status recorded in United Kingdom?
- The lowest recorded value was 23,060 Persons in 1958.
- How does United Kingdom rank for employment by professional status?
- United Kingdom ranks 7th out of 33 countries with data for 2025.
- Is employment by professional status rising or falling in United Kingdom?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United Kingdom data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Employment by professional status (ICSE-93). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
The dataflow "Employment by profesional status (ICSE-93)" is a subset of the “Employment by activites and status (ALFS)” dataset which presents annual labour force statistics for OECD member countries, Brazil and 4 geographical areas (Major Seven, Euro zone, European Union and OECD-Total). This dataflow contains employment statistics for all economic activities broken down by professional status as defined by the ICSE-1993 including employees, employers and own-account workers, and unpaid family workers. Economic activities are defined according to the Major divisions of the International standard International Classification (ISIC) Rev. 4 with the exception of the United-States wich compiled since 2003, employment data by sector following the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); NAICS sector are then proxied to ISIC Rev. 4 and are therefore not strictly comparable with other countries’ data. The professional status is defined in the International Classification by status in Employment (ICSE-1993). To be considered as an unpaid family worker, the hour-threshold varies from one hour to 18 hours a week. Data are presented in thousands of persons, or as indices with base year 2015=100. Annual data in this dataset are typically calculated as averages of infra-annual estimates. This can lead to differences with annual data published by National Statistics Institutes.