United Kingdom
Blue collar employment
Key points
- While the total number of jobs has been rising, the number of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries has been falling. More specifically, while the total number of jobs has increased by 2.7 million over the last decade, the number of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries has fallen from by a million, from 7.2 to 6.1 million.
- A third of full-time male jobs are in manufacturing, construction and other production industries, compared to one in ten full-time female jobs and one in twenty part-time jobs.
- Manufacturing, construction and other production industries are the areas which are dominated by full-time male jobs.
- All parts of the UK, apart from Northern Ireland and London, have lost substantial numbers of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries since 1997.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By gender
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Graph 3: By industry
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Graph 4: By region
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Why this indicator was originally chosen
This indicator is the number of jobs in the manufacturing, construction and other production industries. Whilst the total number of jobs has been growing over the last decade, the mix of these jobs has also been changing. This has potentially important implications for poverty. In particular, production, construction and other production industries are typically dominated by full-time male manual jobs and the loss of such jobs can have a severe impact on the income of many households where the man is often the major earner of the household.
Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows total number of jobs in the first quarter of each year, with the data broken down into four overall sectors, namely: manufacturing, construction and other production industries (sec codes A-F); wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants (sec codes G-H); finance and other business activities (sec codes I-K); and public sector and other community services (sec codes L-Q).
The second graph shows, for the latest year, the proportion of jobs that are in each of the four sectors for each of full-time male employees, full-time female employees and part-time employees (both sexes combined).
The third graph shows, for the latest year, how the total number of jobs in each sector is divided between full-time male jobs, full-time female jobs and part-time jobs (both sexes combined).
The fourth graph shows, for each region and each sector, the change in jobs between 1997 and 2007. These changes are shown as a proportion of the total jobs in each region in 1997.
For all graphs, the data includes both employed people and self-employed people and relates to the United Kingdom. For self-employment, the data source in all the graphs is the Labour Force Survey. For employment: the data source for the first graph is Labour Market Statistics; that for the second and third graphs is the Annual Business Inquiry (Great Britain obtained via the Nomis website) and DETI (Northern Ireland); and that for the fourth graph is Labour Market Statistics (Great Britain) and DETI (Northern Ireland). All the employment data relates to the location of the jobs themselves rather than to where the people doing these jobs live.
The first Annual Business Inquiry survey was in 1998 and the data refers to the jobs available within each area rather than the jobs performed by the people who live there. In principle, a longer time series could have been used by stitching together the Annual Business Inquiry and its predecessor, the Annual Employment Survey (AES). In practice, however, this is not possible because the two surveys use different methods of calculation which give rather different answers at geographic levels below that of Great Britain. Such discrepancies are discussed in the ONS report of their ABI/AES reconciliation project, which recognised the extent of this problem.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. Labour Market Statistics are an authoritative source but are subject to substantial revisions from time to time.
External links
See the 2007 Joseph Rowntree Foundation report entitled Work-rich and work-poor: three decades of change.
Relevant 2007 Public Service Agreements
None directly relevant.
The numbers
Graph 1
| Millions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Public sector, voluntary sector and other miscellaneous | Manufacturing, construction and other production industries | Finance and other business activities | Distribution, hotels and restaurants |
| 1997 | 8.2 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 6.5 |
| 1998 | 8.3 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 6.7 |
| 1999 | 8.4 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.7 |
| 2000 | 8.7 | 6.9 | 7.2 | 6.8 |
| 2001 | 8.8 | 6.7 | 7.5 | 6.8 |
| 2002 | 9.0 | 6.5 | 7.6 | 6.9 |
| 2003 | 9.2 | 6.3 | 7.7 | 7.0 |
| 2004 | 9.5 | 6.2 | 7.8 | 7.1 |
| 2005 | 9.7 | 6.2 | 8.0 | 7.1 |
| 2006 | 9.9 | 6.1 | 8.3 | 7.0 |
| 2007 | 10.0 | 6.0 | 8.4 | 7.0 |
| 2008 | 10.0 | 6.1 | 8.5 | 7.1 |
Graph 2
| Type of job | Public sector and other community services | Manufacturing, construction and other production industries | Finance and other business activities | Distribution, hotels and restaurants | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time male jobs | 17% | 33% | 32% | 18% | 100% |
| Full-time female jobs | 43% | 11% | 28% | 19% | 100% |
| All part-time jobs | 43% | 6% | 19% | 32% | 100% |
Graph 3
| Type of job | Public sector and other community services | Manufacturing, construction and other production industries | Finance and other business activities | Distribution, hotels and restaurants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time male jobs | 25% | 77% | 53% | 36% |
| Full-time female jobs | 34% | 14% | 26% | 21% |
| All part-time jobs | 41% | 9% | 21% | 43% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Graph 4
| Region | Manufacturing, construction and other production industries | Private sector services | Public sector, voluntary sector and other miscellaneous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | -3% | 11% | 7% | 16% |
| East Midlands | -5% | 11% | 8% | 15% |
| London | 0% | 13% | 8% | 20% |
| North East | -5% | 12% | 11% | 18% |
| North West | -5% | 10% | 8% | 13% |
| Northern Ireland | 0% | 15% | 6% | 21% |
| Scotland | -3% | 12% | 10% | 19% |
| South East | -3% | 12% | 6% | 15% |
| South West | -4% | 12% | 8% | 16% |
| Wales | -1% | 13% | 11% | 22% |
| West Midlands | -9% | 11% | 8% | 10% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | -4% | 11% | 10% | 17% |