Accredited official statistics

Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors, April 2023 to March 2024 - Technical and quality assurance report

Updated 8 November 2024

1. Overview of release

The statistics release ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors, April 2023 to March 2024’ provides estimates of the number of filled jobs in the DCMS sectors (excluding tourism) for the 12-month period between April 2023 and March 2024 and the number of filled jobs by socio-economic background and social mobility in DCMS Sectors in the UK for the period July to September in the years 2016 to 2023. 

There is significant overlap between DCMS sectors therefore users should be aware that employment in the DCMS total is lower than the sum of the individual sectors.

These estimates are derived from two Office for National Statistics (ONS) data sources (the Annual Population Survey, or APS, and the Labour Force Survey, or LFS) and contain breakdowns including, but not limited to, employment type (i.e. employed or self-employed), region of work, nationality, sex and ethnicity.

Employment estimates based on APS data are an average over the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024. More detail on the APS is available in section 3. Estimates based on LFS data are for the period July to September, this is due to the survey’s rotating modules, which have differing contents. More detail on the LFS is also available in section 3.

Estimates for the number of filled jobs in the tourism sector after 2021 are not available in this release. This is because the methodology used to calculate these estimates uses the data from the ONS Tourism satellite account, which are not available for the time periods of 2022 and 2023. For this reason, tables for 2022 and 2023 only contain a DCMS total that excludes tourism.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the provider of the underlying data used for the analysis presented within this release. As such, the same data sources are used for DCMS estimates as for national estimates, enabling comparisons to be made on a consistent basis.

1.1 Official Statistics Accreditation

In June 2019, a suite of DCMS Sector Economic Estimates, including employment estimates, were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Regulation Service Act 2007. 

This followed a report by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2018, which stated that the series could be designated as National Statistics subject to meeting certain requirements. Since the report, we have striven to improve our publications by providing summaries of other notable sources of data, more detail on the nature and extent of the overlap between the sectors, and further information on the quality and limitations of the data. We will continue to improve the series in the future, in line with the recommendations of the report. We encourage our users to engage with us so that we can improve our statistics and identify gaps in the statistics that we produce.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. 

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website. 

Annual Population Survey Accreditation

Since the publication of these statistics, the ONS has carried out analysis to assess the impact of falling sample sizes on the quality of Annual Population Survey (APS) estimates. Due to the ongoing challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting, the accreditation of ONS statistics based on Annual Population Survey (APS) was temporarily suspended on 9 October 2024. Because of the increased volatility of both Labour Force Survey (LFS) and APS estimates, the ONS advises that estimates produced using these datasets should be treated with additional caution.

ONS statistics based on both the APS and LFS will be considered official statistics in development until further review. We are reviewing the quality of our estimates and will update users about the accreditation of DCMS Employment Economic Estimates if this changes.

1.2 Users

The users of these statistics fall into five broad categories:

• Ministers and other political figures
• Policy and other professionals in DCMS and other government departments
• Industries and their representative bodies
• Charitable organisations
• Academics

The primary use of these statistics is to monitor the performance of the industries in the DCMS sectors, helping to understand how current and future policy interventions can be most effective.

2. Sector definitions

In order to measure the size of the economy it is important to be able to define it. DCMS uses a range of definitions based on internal or UK agreed definitions. Definitions are predominantly based on the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC) codes. This means nationally consistent sources of data can be used and enables international comparisons.

In February 2023, Machinery of Government changes meant that responsibility for the digital and telecoms sectors moved from DCMS to the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Since April 2024, Economic Estimates for the digital sector have been published by DSIT, which can be found here.

2.1 Overview of DCMS Sectors

Main sector definitions

The sectors for which DCMS has responsibility are:

• Civil society
• Creative industries
• Cultural sector
• Gambling
• Sport
• Tourism

Estimates for the tourism sector after 2021 are not included in this release as estimates for the ONS Tourism satellite account, which are used to publish our tourism employment estimates, are yet to be released.

As of the ‘DCMS Sector National Economic Estimates: 2011 – 2020’ release on 23 December 2021, we have updated the methodology for estimating employment in the civil society sector. Therefore, caution should be applied when comparing with previously published data. The latest coherent back series with the most up-to-date methodology for employment in the DCMS sectors were published as part of the ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors and Digital sector, January 2023 to December 2023’ release.

Each sector definition has been designed to be the best possible measure of that sector, rather than being considered as part of a greater whole. This approach has led to overlap between DCMS sectors, whereby an industry (as defined by 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification, or SIC, codes) may simultaneously be a cultural sector SIC code and a creative industries SIC code. In particular, the cultural sector is defined using SIC codes that are nearly all within the creative industries.

The exact size of the overlap between sectors varies by measure. For the figures in this release, the overlap between the sectors is illustrated in Figure 1. 

Figure 1: Size of the overlap between DCMS sectors, Employment, April 2023 to March 2024.

Other sector definitions

Additional analysis is presented for the audio-visual sector and the computer games sector. The definition of the audio-visual sector (see below) is intended to reflect the sectors covered by the EU Audio-Visual Media Services Directive.

• 59.11 - Motion picture, video and television programme production activities
• 59.12 - Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities
• 59.13 - Motion picture, video and television programme distribution activities
• 59.2 - Sound recording and music publishing activities
• 60.1 - Radio broadcasting
• 60.2 - Television programming and broadcasting activities
• 63.91 - News agency activities
• 63.99 - Other information service activities n.e.c.
• 77.22 - Renting of video tapes and disks
• 77.4 - Leasing of intellectual property and similar products, except copyrighted works

The computer games sector combines the 4-digit SIC code 58.21 (Publishing of Computer Games) and 62.01/1 (Ready-made interactive leisure and entertainment software development).

A number of software programming companies in the whole SIC code 62.01 – ‘Computer programming activities’ may also contribute to the output of computer games, as part of a range of programming activities. Only a subset of these (those in 62.01/1) are included in these computer games estimates, however, they will all have been implicitly included in the ‘IT, software and computer services’ creative industries sub-sector in the main estimates.

2.2 Details and limitations of sector definitions

This section looks at sector definitions used in this release in more detail and provides an overview of limitations.

There are substantial limitations to the underlying classifications. As the balance and make-up of the economy changes, the SIC, finalised in 2007, is less able to provide the detail for important elements of the UK economy related to DCMS sectors. The SIC codes used to produce these estimates are a ‘best fit’, subject to the limitations described in the following section.

Creative industries

The creative industries were defined in the Government’s 2001 creative industries Mapping Document as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”. Based on this definition, DCMS worked closely with stakeholders to determine which occupations and industries should be considered creative.

The creative industries were determined on the basis of creative intensity:

Through consultation, a list of creative occupations was identified.

The proportion of creative jobs in each industry was calculated (the creative intensity)

Industries with creative intensity above a specified threshold are considered creative industries

The definition is a UK definition based on internationally consistent industrial classifications. The SIC codes used to capture the creative industries sector and sub-sectors are shown in the tables published alongside this guidance note. See the creative industries Economic Estimates methodology note for a more detailed explanation of how the definition has been derived.

Employment estimates for the number of filled jobs in the creative occupations and their respective standard occupation classification (SOC2020) codes are not included in this release. This is because DCMS is in the process of defining which SOC2020 codes should be included in the creative occupations, following the ONS revision of SOC2020 data published in July 2023.

Cultural Sector

There are significant limitations to the DCMS measurement of the cultural sector arising from the lack of detailed disaggregation possible using the standard industrial classifications. There are many cases where culture forms a small part of an industry classification and therefore cannot be separately identified and assigned as culture using standard data sources. DCMS consulted on the definition of Culture and published a response in April 2017.

It is recognised that, due to the limitations associated with SIC codes, the SIC code used in past publications as a proxy for the Heritage sector (91.03 - Operation of historical sites and building and similar visitor attractions) is likely to be an underestimate of this sector’s value. We have changed the name of the Heritage sector to ‘Operation for historical sites and similar visitor attractions’ to reflect this.

Sport

For the purpose of this publication, the statistical definition of sport has been used. This incorporates only those 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes which are predominantly sport (see the definitions tab (1a) in the published data tables).

DCMS has previously published employment estimates based on the DCMS Sports Satellite Account. However, estimates based on this method are only available up to 2016, and the method has not been used in these estimates.

Gambling

The definition of gambling used in DCMS sectors Economic Estimates is consistent with the internationally agreed definition, SIC 92 (‘Gambling and betting activities’).

Civil society

In DCMS APS based estimates, respondents are considered to be part of the civil society sector if the organisation they work for is not “a private firm or business, a limited company”, and is a “charity, voluntary organisation or trust”. As this is only collected for respondents’ first jobs, estimates in the number of filled jobs in civil society are based on main jobs only and do not include second jobs (unlike estimates for all other sectors). This estimate is therefore an under-estimate on two counts: it does not include second jobs, and it does not include volunteers, social enterprises and mutuals.

3. Methodology

3.1 Data Sources

In this release, employment is estimated as the number of filled jobs, based on two datasets produced by the ONS; the Annual Population Survey (APS), and the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The APS is a household survey that combines four quarters of the Labour Force Survey with an additional sample boost. Information collected includes the details of employment (e.g. location, industry, seniority, occupation, income), circumstances (e.g. housing tenure, health) and demography (e.g. nationality, age, ethnicity).  Responses are weighted to population totals.

Our main employment estimates are calculated using APS data as the larger sample size means it can be used to generate estimates at a greater level of industry detail. However, as the APS combines multiple waves of the LFS it does not include data from non-core questionnaire modules. For topics that are covered by the rotating modules, such as socio-economic background, we therefore use the relevant wave of the LFS.

3.2 Method

Employment estimates

The majority of the data processing is done by ONS, with DCMS receiving cleaned and weighted respondent-level data. We then process the data to give estimates for employment.

To produce our employment estimates we remove any respondents who are not in work from the dataset for analysis. We define ‘in work’ as those with a first job who are an employee or self-employed and those who have a second job who are employees, self-employed or have otherwise not stated.

As we estimate employment as the number of filled jobs, we restructure the data to be on a per job basis, rather than a respondent basis. We then select entries that are relevant for a particular measure (e.g. all entries with a SIC code of 85.52 for total employment in Cultural Education) and aggregate over the associated population weights to generate an estimate of the total filled jobs.

3.3 Changes in this release

Typically, DCMS sector estimates based on the APS include a variety of demographic breakdowns, including age, sex, region of work, nationality, ethnicity, disability, highest qualification and occupation grouping. However, for this release, the standard APS employment data will not contain information on occupation grouping. This is because DCMS is in the process of defining which SOC2020 codes should be included in the creative occupations, following the ONS revision of SOC2020 data published in July 2023.

Estimates for the number of filled jobs by the highest level of education for the period April 2023 to March 2024 are based on a new variable in the underlying Annual Population Survey (APS) dataset. From January 2022 to March 2022 new qualifications have been added to the survey after a review identifying gaps in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) questionnaire at the ONS. Because of this, we advise caution when making comparisons to equivalent estimates covering time periods prior to January 2022.

4. Quality assurance processes

This document summarises the quality assurance processes applied during the production of these statistics by our data providers, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as those applied by DCMS.

4.1 Quality assurance processes at ONS

Quality assurance at ONS takes place at a number of stages. The various stages and the processes in place to ensure quality for the data sources are outlined below. It is worth noting that information presented here on data sources are taken from the Annual Population Survey (QMI). This work should be credited to colleagues at the ONS.

4.2 ONS Annual Population Survey

The purpose of the APS is to provide information on important social and socio-economic variables at local levels. The APS is not a stand-alone survey but uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and a local sample boost.

4.2.1 Sample design

The APS survey year is divided into quarters of 13 weeks. From January 2006, it has been conducted on the basis of calendar quarters: January to March (Quarter 1), April to June (Quarter 2), July to September (Quarter 3) and October to December (Quarter 4). The APS design is not stratified.

The APS data set is created by taking waves 1 and 5 from four successive quarters, with rolling-year data from the English, Welsh and Scottish Local Labour Force Survey, to obtain an annually representative sample of around 80,000 households. Over the period of the 4 quarters, waves 1 and 5 will never contain the same households to avoid the inclusion of responses from any household more than once in the dataset.

4.2.2 Sampling frame

The sampling frame for the survey in Great Britain is the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) and the National Health Service (NHS) communal accommodation list. Due to the very low population density in the far north of Scotland (north of the Caledonian Canal), telephone directories are used as sampling frames. A systematic sample is drawn each quarter from these three sampling bases, and as the PAF is broken down geographically, the systematic sampling ensures that the sample is representative at the regional level. In Northern Ireland, the Rating and Valuation Lists (which serve for the administration of land taxes) are used.

4.2.3 Data collection

Interviews in all waves are carried out either on a face-to-face basis with the help of laptops, known as Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) or on the telephone, known as Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI). Information is collected using a software package called Blaise.

4.2.4 Validation and quality assurance

• Accuracy is the degree of closeness between an estimate and the true value. As both surveys are sample surveys, they provide estimates of population characteristics rather than exact measures. At ONS, confidence intervals are used to present the sampling variability of the survey. For example, with a 95% confidence interval, it is expected that in 95% of survey samples, the resulting confidence interval will contain the true value that would be obtained by surveying the whole population.
• Comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time and domain, coherence is the degree to which data are derived from different sources or methods but refer to the same topic and are similar. Some sources provide data that overlap with APS/LFS data on employment, unemployment and earnings. More information on these sources is available in the Annual Population Survey (APS) QMI.
• Statistical disclosure control methodology is also applied to the datasets before release. This ensures that information attributable to an individual is not disclosed.
• On each quarterly LFS dataset, the variable frequencies are compared with the previous period. This identifies any significant discontinuities at an early stage. All discontinuities judged significant are investigated to determine the reason for the discontinuity. Is it the product of questionnaire revision or processing error, derived variable revision or error or real-world change? This process also ensures that the metadata associated with each variable is correct.
• Specific main derived variables are checked in detail by extracting the underlying variables and recalculating in another application, then comparing the results with the values in the dataset. This ensures that the program used to calculate the derived variables is working correctly.

4.3 Quality assurance processes at DCMS

The majority of quality assurance of the data underpinning this DCMS sectors Economic Estimates release takes place at ONS, through the processes described above. However, further quality assurance checks are carried out within DCMS at various stages.

Production of the report is typically carried out by one member of staff, whilst quality assurance is completed by at least one other, to ensure an independent evaluation of the work.

4.4 Data requirements

For the APS data, DCMS discusses its data requirements with ONS and these are formalised as a Data Access Agreement (DAA). The DAA covers which data are required, the purpose of the data, and the conditions under which ONS provide the data. Discussions of requirements and purpose with ONS improve the understanding of the data at DCMS, helping us to ensure we receive the correct data and use it appropriately.

The DAA covers which data are required, the purpose for accessing the data, and the conditions under which ONS provide the data. Discussions of requirements and purpose with ONS improved the understanding of the data at DCMS, helping us to ensure we receive the correct data and use it appropriately.

4.5 Production and data analysis

At the production stage, the data is aggregated up to produce information about DCMS sectors and sub-sectors before inputting the data into the formal data tables ready for analysis. Disclosure control is also applied as part of this process.

The statistical lead ensures a number of quality assurance checks are undertaken during this process. Where relevant these checks typically include:

• whether disaggregations sum to the overall total. E.g:

   * Do sub-sectors within the creative industries sum to the creative industries total?

   * Do the individual regional breakdowns sum up to the total for that sector?

• “Sense checks” of the data. E.g.:

   * Are the estimates similar from one year to the next? How do the figures compare with ONS published totals?

   * Looking at any large differences between the data and possible causes to these.

• Checking that the correct SIC codes have been aggregated together to form DCMS sector (and sub-sector) estimates. Are all SIC codes we require included? Are there any non-DCMS SIC codes that have been included by accident?
• Checking it is not possible to derive disclosive data from the figures that will be published.
• Making sure the correct data has been pasted to the final tables for publication, is accessible, formatted correctly, and has appropriate documentation.
• Having checked the quality of the data, analysis is then conducted to outline the key trends and patterns. This is then checked to ensure all statements, figures and charts are correct.

4.6 Dissemination

Finalised figures are published as OpenDocument spreadsheets on GOV.UK, with summary text on the webpage. These are produced by the workforce statistics lead who, beforehand, checks with the ONS on details of how to interpret the statistics. Before publishing, a quality assurer checks the figures match between the tables and the GOV.UK page summary. The quality assurer also makes sure any statements made about the figures (e.g. regarding trends) are correct according to the analysis and checks spelling or grammar errors.

4.7 Post publication

Once the publication is released, DCMS reviews the processes and procedures followed via a wash up meeting. This occurs usually a week after the publication release date and discusses:

• What went well and what issues were encountered
• What improvements can be made for next time
• Engaging with users of the publication to get feedback

5. External data sources

It is recognised that there are always different ways to define sectors, but their relevance depends on what they are needed for. The government generally favours classification systems which are

• rigorously measured,
• internationally comparable,
• nationally consistent, and
• ideally applicable to specific policy interventions.

These are the main reasons for DCMS constructing sector classifications from Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. However, DCMS accepts that there are limitations with this approach and alternative definitions can be useful where a policy-relevant grouping of businesses crosses existing Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. DCMS is aware of other estimates relevant to DCMS sectors. These estimates use various methods and data sources and can be useful for serving several purposes, e.g. monitoring progress under specific policy themes such as community health or the environment, or measuring activities subsumed across a range of SICs.

The ONS use the quarterly Labour Force Survey for their estimates of UK-wide employment rates. Our APS employment estimates of the number of filled jobs in the DCMS sectors takes a similar approach. However, as the APS uses two waves of the LFS, the datasets are not directly comparable and the ONS published figures will differ slightly from ours.

For employment statistics more broadly, the main alternative is the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). This has the advantage of asking businesses directly about their employees and hence is likely to capture the sector of employees more accurately than a household survey. However, it does not contain the range of demographic breakdowns that the APS does, which enables us to build a fuller picture of employment in our sectors, using a still-robust data source, and does not include the self-employed, which constitutes a substantial part of the workforce for many DCMS sectors.

For some parts of the DCMS sectors, estimates have been attempted to a fuller definition of the sector. In particular, for the Heritage subsector DCMS only looks at economic activity attributed to the “Operation of historical sites and attractions” (SIC 91.03). However, Historic England (working with the CEBR) have published their own estimate of the number of jobs supported by Heritage, using a wider definition. UK Music have done likewise, for the Music sector, again using a wider definition.

It is recognised that there will be other sources of evidence from industry bodies, for example, which have not been included above. We encourage statistics producers within DCMS sectors who have not been referenced to contact the economic estimates team at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

6. Further information

For enquiries on this release, please email evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

For general enquiries contact:

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

100 Parliament Street London

SW1A 2BQ

Telephone: 020 7211 6000

DCMS statisticians can be followed on X via @DCMSInsight.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.