Summary
What the indicators show: working-age adults
Low income by work status»
-
An adult's risk of low income varies greatly depending on how much paid work the family does. These risks have increased somewhat for all family types since the mid-1990s.
-
Among working-age adults in low income, the number in working families has risen whilst the number in workless ones has fallen.
-
Among working-age adults in low income, half now have someone in their family who is in paid work.
-
Nearly all the rise in working families in low income has been in families without dependent children.
Low income and disability»
-
Disabled adults are twice as likely to live in low income households as non-disabled adults, and the gap is bigger than a decade ago.
-
Disabled adults in workless families are somewhat less likely to be in low income than their non-disabled counterparts.
-
For all family types, a disabled adult's risk of being in low income is much greater than that for a non-disabled adult.
-
The proportion of economically inactive working-age adults who are in relative low income is higher in the UK than in any other EU country.
Low income by age»
-
Of the 1.5 million adults aged 16 to 24 in low income households, 1 million are single adults without children.
-
Four fifths of lone parents in low income households are aged 25 or older.
-
Of the 1.6 million adults aged 34 to 42 in low income households, 900,000 are in families where someone is working and most of these are couples with children.
-
Of the 1.1 million adults aged 52 to 60 in low income households, 600,000 have a disabled adult in the family and most of these are workless.
Low income and council tax»
-
More than half of all low income households are paying full Council Tax, noticeably higher than a decade ago.
-
1½ million children in England and Wales are living in low income households where the household is paying full Council Tax.
-
The vast majority of low income working-age families where someone is working pay full Council Tax.
Concentrations of low income and worklessness»
-
Claimant numbers in the areas with the most claimants have been falling at a similar rate as those in the areas with the least claimants.
-
30% of working-age people receive out-of-work benefits in the areas with the highest concentrations. This compares with 10% in areas with average concentrations.
-
Around 40% of working-age recipients of out-of-work benefits live in a fifth of small areas, whilst the other 60% live outside of these areas.
Wanting paid work»
-
Official long-term unemployment has halved over the last decade. Both official short-term unemployment and the number who are economically inactive but wanting paid work have also fallen, but much more slowly.
-
Only two-fifths of those who lack, but want, paid work are officially unemployed. A further fifth are long-term sick or disabled.
-
For women of all ages, and for older men, those who are economically inactive but wanting paid work substantially outnumber the officially unemployed.
-
The proportion of the working-age population lacking who lack, but want, paid work is almost twice as high in London as in the Northern Ireland.
Work and disability»
-
Two-fifths of those with a work-limiting disability are working. A further fifth lack, but want, paid work.
-
Whilst the proportion of lone parents who are in paid work has increased a lot, the proportion of disabled people who are in paid work has only increased slightly.
-
Disability affects work status much more than gender or even lone parenthood.
-
Among those who are aged 25 to retirement and are not working, almost half are disabled.
-
At all levels of qualification, the proportion of people with a work-limiting disability who lack, but want, paid work is much greater than for those without a disability.
-
The proportion of people who both have a work-limiting disability and lack, but want, paid work is noticeably higher in the North East than elsewhere.
Work and lone parents»
-
55% of lone parents are working, up from 45% a decade ago.
-
The proportion of lone parents who lack, but want, paid work is much higher in London than elsewhere.
Work and ethnicity»
-
One in eight adults aged 25 to retirement from ethnic minorities are not working but want to, much lower than a decade ago but still much higher than for White people.
-
Around a third of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are not in paid work and say that they do not want paid work, a much higher proportion than that for any other ethnic group.
-
Most Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are not in paid work.
-
A third of working-age Bangladeshi households are workless, as are a quarter of Pakistani, Black African and Black Caribbean households.
Work and gender»
- The proportion of working-age women who are not working is much lower than thirty years ago whilst the equivalent proportion for men is much higher.
- These trends - of increasing work rates for women and decreasing work rates for men - have been happening throughout the last thirty years.
- Differences in work rates between men and women are much greater among those aged 25 to 49 than in either younger or older age groups.
Blue collar employment»
-
While the total number of jobs has been rising, the number of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries has been falling.
-
A third of full-time male jobs are in 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.
In workless households»
-
Single adult households - both with and without children - are much more likely to be workless than couple households.
-
Half of workless working-age households are single adults without dependent children.
-
The UK has a higher proportion of its working-age population living in workless households than most other EU countries, all bar Belgium, Hungary and Germany.
Numbers in low pay»
-
The proportion of employees aged 22 and over who are low paid fell between 2002 and 2005 but has not fallen since. In 2007, 28% of the women - and 14% of the men - were paid less than £7 per hour.
-
Whatever low pay threshold is used, the proportion of working women who are low paid is around twice that of working men.
-
At all ages, at least a third of part-time employees are paid less than £7 per hour. Except for the 18-21 age group, the proportion of full-time employees paid less than £7 per hour is much lower.
-
In two areas of occupation - elementary and sales & customer service - four-fifths of part-time employees are paid less than £7 per hour.
-
Half of those paid less than £7 per hour are part-time workers, mainly women.
-
Around half of those paid less than £7 per hour are aged 40 or over.
Low pay by industry»
-
70% of employees in hotels & restaurants - and 55% in retail & wholesale - earn less than £7 per hour. Three-fifths of these people are women.
-
A quarter of workers earning less than £7 per hour work in the public sector.
-
Much of the low pay in the hotels & restaurants and retail & wholesale sectors is in the younger age groups. By contrast, most of the low pay in the public sector is in the older age groups.
Location of low pay»
-
In most regions, around a third of all female employees earn less than £7 per hour.
Low pay and disability»
-
For both full-time and part-time work, the proportion of employees with a work-limiting disability who are low paid is around ten percentage points higher than that for employees without a work-limiting disability.
-
At all levels of qualification, the proportion of people with a work-limiting disability who are low paid is somewhat greater than for those without a disability.
Low pay and ethnicity»
-
Half of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis earn less than £7 per hour.
Pay inequalities»
-
Pay inequalities between men and women have reduced at the bottom but not at the top.
-
Almost half of all part-time workers - both men and women - are paid less than £7 per hour.
-
Pay inequalities are greater in London and the South East than elsewhere.
Insecure at work»
-
Almost half of the men, and a third of the women, making a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance were last claiming less than six months ago. These proportions are similar to a decade ago.
-
Most part-time employees do not want a full-time job - but only a quarter of temporary employees do not want a permanent job.
-
The number of people in temporary contracts is somewhat lower than a decade ago.
-
Only one in seven workers earning less than £7 an hour belong to a trade union, far fewer than for those with higher hourly earnings.
Access to training»
-
Throughout the last decade, people with no qualifications have been around three times less likely to receive job-related training than those with some qualifications.
-
The less qualifications a person has, the less likely they are to receive job-related training.
-
Access to training differs significantly by occupation, being least in elementary (routine) occupations, plant & machine operatives and skilled trades.
-
Access to training differs significantly by industry, with best access being in the public sector.
Without qualifications»
-
The proportion of the working-age population without any educational qualifications has fallen by a third over the last decade.
-
The proportion of people in their twenties without any educational qualifications is much smaller than the proportion for people aged 40 and over but similar to the proportion for people in their thirties.
-
The proportion of the working-age population without any educational qualifications is much higher in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK.
-
Around half of the working-age population lack basic numeracy skills and one in six lack basic literacy skills.
Premature death»
-
The rate of premature death fell by a sixth over the last decade. It is, however, still one and a half times as high among men as among women.
-
Premature deaths are much higher in Scotland than elsewhere, particularly for men.
-
The two single biggest causes of death among people aged 55 to 64 are heart disease and lung cancer.
-
Death rates from heart disease and lung cancer - the two biggest causes of premature death - for people aged 35 to 64 are around twice as high among those from manual backgrounds as from non-manual backgrounds.
Long-standing illness/disability»
-
A quarter of adults aged 45-64 report a long-standing illness or disability which limits their activity.
-
Two-fifths of all adults aged 45-64 on below-average incomes have a limiting longstanding illness or disability, more than twice the rate for those on above-average incomes.
-
Adults aged 45-64 in routine and manual occupational groups are much more likely to have a limiting long-standing illness or disability than those from non manual groups.
-
The proportion of adults aged 45 to 64 who have a limiting long-standing illness in Wales, the North East and Northern Ireland is almost double that in the South East.
Mental health»
-
The proportion of working-age people who are deemed to be at a high risk of developing a mental illness is somewhat lower than a decade ago. Women are more at risk than men.
-
Adults in the poorest fifth are much more likely to be at risk of developing a mental illness than those on average incomes. The differences by income are greater for men than for women.
-
People from manual backgrounds are at somewhat higher risk of developing a mental illness as those from non-manual backgrounds.
The risk of mental illness is similar across all the regions in England.
Obesity»
23% of working-age people are now obese. This compares with 14% a decade ago.
The biggest difference by income and gender is that women from the richest fifth of households are the least likely to be obese.
People from manual backgrounds are somewhat more likely to be obese than those from non-manual backgrounds.
In England, the proportion of adults aged 25 to retirement who are obese is lowest in London.