Updated 28 September 2012
The proportion of households that are workless
Indicator description
The indicator measures the number of workless households as a proportion of all households. Estimates focus on households in the UK that contain at least one person aged 16-64. Such households are defined as workless if none of the household members aged 16 or over are in employment. Data are not seasonally adjusted so year on year comparison only.
Latest data – published 29 August 2012
The latest data shows that the estimated proportion of households that were workless was 17.9% in April-June 2012. This is 0.8 percentage points lower than the 18.7% estimated for April-June 2011.
The decrease over the latest year was statistically significant. The April-June 2012 estimate (17.9%) has a sampling variability of ± 0.4 percentage points. A change over time has estimated sampling variability of approximately ± 0.6 percentage points. The survey sample size is around 45,000 households.
Proportion of households that are workless in the UK (%). Year on year comparison only
| Year | Apr-Jun | Oct-Dec |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 17.9% | |
| 2011 | 18.7% | 18.9% |
| 2010 | 19.2% | 18.8% |
| 2009 | 18.5% | 18.9% |
Further information is available from the Working and workless households bulletin, published by the Office for National Statistics:
This indicator is available from Table A, in the following files
