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Economic activity

  • Mnemonic reference

    ECOPUK11

  • Applicability

    Person

  • Type

    Derived variable

Definition

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person aged 16 and over was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.

A person's economic activity is derived from their 'activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status if not employed and not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed.

The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment, unemployment and economic status.

Classification

Total number of categories 20

Code Name
01 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee, part-time
02 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee, full-time
03 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees, part-time
04 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees, full-time
05 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed without employees, part-time
06 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed without employees, full-time
07 Economically active (excluding full-time students): Unemployed: Seeking work and available to start in 2 weeks or waiting to start a job already obtained
08 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Employee, part-time
09 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Employee, full-time
10 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self-employed with employees, part-time
11 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self-employed with employees, full-time
12 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self-employed without employees, part-time
13 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self-employed without employees, full-time
14 Economically active full-time students: Unemployed: Seeking work and available to start in 2 weeks or waiting to start a job already obtained
15 Economically inactive: Retired
16 Economically inactive: Student
17 Economically inactive: Looking after home or family
18 Economically inactive: Long-term sick or disabled
19 Economically inactive: Other
XX No code required - comprises schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time and all those under the age of 16.

Source question or variables

ACTLW (Derived variable)

AGE (Derived variable)

AVAILWORK (Primary variable)

DOB (Primary variable)

EMPLYGRP (Primary variable)

EMPSTAT (Primary variable)

HRSWRKD_GROUP (Derived variable)

LOOKWORK (Primary variable)

OTHACT (Primary variable)

STUDENT (Primary variable)

TERMIND (Primary variable)

WAITWORK (Primary variable)

Comparison with 2001

The wording of the questions asking respondents about their economic activity the previous week, reasons for not working (if applicable) and employment status were changed slightly since 2001 in order to improve their clarity. This may have caused slight differences in responses, meaning comparisons with 2001 should be treated with some caution. Furthermore, the classifications of economically inactive categories changed between 2001 and 2011, so only the total number of economically inactive people is comparable.

Known Quality Issues

The number of ‘Inactive Students’ in QS603SC is different to the other Economic Activity tables. The ‘Inactive Student’ column in QS603SC includes only full-time students who are not working. The ‘Inactive Student’ column in the other Economic Activity tables includes full-time students who are not working and people who ticked that they were a student the previous week in question 28 but they did not tick that they were full-time students in question 5.

  • Mnemonic reference

    ECOPUK

  • Applicability

    All people aged 16 and 74, UK.

Definition

This derived variable is created using information from Questions 18 to 22 on the census form and the question on Hours Worked (HOUPUK) and Employment Type (EMTPUK). The classification is based on the International Labour Office (ILO) definition of economic activity, and is an ONS harmonised survey classification.

As well as inevitable differences between a census and surveys, minor differences include the definition of part-time and full-time, and the sub-categorisation of economically inactive. For the census, part-time is defined as working 30 hours or less, whereas for the harmonised output classification, part-time status is self-assessed. ‘In employment’ includes people on Government Sponsored Training Schemes.

The full classification given on this page provides detailed economic activity information for all economically active full-time students.

Classification

Total number of categories 22

Code Name
01 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee: Part-time
02 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Employee: Full-time
03 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees: Part-time
04 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed with employees: Full-time
05 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self-employed without employees: Part-time
06 Economically active (excluding full-time students): In employment: Self employed without employees: Full-time
07 Economically active (excluding full-time students): Unemployed: Seeking work and available to start within 2 weeks
08 Economically active (excluding full-time students): Unemployed: Waiting to start a job already obtained and available to start within 2 weeks
09 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Employee: Part-time
10 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Employee: Full-time
11 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self employed with employees: Part-time
12 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self employed with employees: Full-time
13 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self employed without employees: Part-time
14 Economically active full-time students: In employment: Self employed without employees: Full-time
15 Economically active full-time students: Unemployed: Seeking work and available to start within 2 weeks
16 Economically active full-time students: Unemployed: Waiting to start a job already obtained and available to start within 2 weeks
17 Economically inactive: Retired
18 Economically inactive: Student
19 Economically inactive: Looking after home/family
20 Economically inactive: Permanently sick/disabled
21 Economically inactive: Other
XX Not applicable