Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector, April 2023 to March 2024
Accredited Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of the Digital Sector to the UK economy, measured by employment.
Documents
Details
Headline findings
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Employment in the Digital Sector decreased between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years (between April and the following March), compared to a small amount of employment growth in the UK overall over the same period.
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Employment in the Digital Sector during the 2023/24 financial year was approximately 1.8 million filled jobs. This suggests that there has been a 3.4% reduction in employment in the Digital Sector (which includes the Telecommunications Sector) since the 2022/23 financial year (1.9 million filled jobs), reducing back to levels seen in the 2021/22 financial year (1.8 million filled jobs). By comparison, employment in the UK overall increased by 0.4% between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years.
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Employment in the Telecommunications Sector was unchanged between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, with approximately 179,000 filled jobs in the sector in both periods.
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The Digital Sector accounted for a slightly lower proportion of the UK’s filled jobs during the 2023/24 financial year (5.4%) than in the prior 2022/23 financial year (5.6%). The Telecommunications Sector accounted for a similar proportion of the UK’s filled jobs in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years (0.5%).
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In the 2023/24 financial year, the ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ subsector contributed the majority of filled jobs in the Digital Sector (56.1%). In the 2023/24 financial year, the Telecommunications Sector contributed 9.8% of the filled jobs in the Digital Sector.
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In the 2023/24 financial year, the proportions of filled jobs held by women (30.2%) and disabled people (14.2%) in the Digital Sector were smaller than the proportions of filled jobs held by these groups in the UK overall (48.0% and 17.4%, respectively).
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In the 2023/24 financial year, the proportion of filled jobs held by individuals with degree level (or equivalent) education in the Digital Sector (63.5%) was larger than the proportion of filled jobs held by this group in the UK overall (43.6%).
Released
12 September 2024
About this release
This is a continuation of the ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector’ series, previously produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Responsibility for Digital policy now sits with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Employment estimates within this release are Accredited Official Statistics, used to provide an estimate of the number of filled jobs in the Digital Sector, for the period April 2023 to March 2024. This current release contains new figures for April 2023 to March 2024.
While Telecommunications is considered a sector in its own right, it is also entirely included within the Digital Sector as one of the subsectors, as defined by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. Aggregates based on the Digital Sector, therefore, include data from the Telecommunications Sector.
Data sources and technical information
These findings are calculated based on the published Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS).
The APS provides data on an individual level for both a respondent’s first job, and if applicable, a respondent’s second job as separate variables. Respondents are included in analysis if they are categorised as ‘in work’. This includes all instances where a respondent is categorised as an ‘employee’ or ‘self-employed’ for either their first or, if applicable, their second job.
As we estimate employment as the number of filled jobs, we restructure the data to be on a per job basis, rather than a per respondent basis. We then select entries that are relevant for a particular measure or demographic breakdown and aggregate over the associated population weights to generate an estimate of the total filled jobs (e.g. filled jobs in the total Digital Sector).
The APS gives access to more detailed demographic information than other comparable datasets allowing for more comprehensive analysis of demographic breakdowns. However, information provided in this dataset is self-reported, which may impact the accuracy of the reported data. There can also be low sample sizes in some of the subsectors and demographic breakdowns leading to the data not being presented due to data suppression from disclosure risk.
Content
These statistics cover employment (filled jobs) in the Digital Sector and its associated subsectors alongside the UK overall. It should be noted that the Telecommunications Sector sits wholly within the Digital Sector.
Proportional differences provided within the ‘Headline findings’ section are calculated based on those who answered the relevant question relating to the breakdown (e.g. the proportion of women working in the Digital Sector would be calculated by dividing the number of women by the sum of the number of women and men and then multiplying by 100).
Employment estimates presented for the period April 2022 to March 2023 (the comparison year) were produced using the same methodology in the DCMS publication, ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in the DCMS and digital sector, April 2022 to March 2023’.
The ‘financial year’ referenced in the ‘Headline findings’ refers to the period of 12 months between April and the following March.
Feedback
We aim to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. We welcome feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent via email to economicestimates@dsit.gov.uk.
In addition, DSIT are currently conducting a review of the Digital Sector Economic Estimates series as a whole and are consulting with users on potential changes. If you would like to contribute to this consultation, please do so using this link. The consultation will close at 11:59pm on 26 September.
A summary of the responses to this consultation will be provided in a published response within 12 weeks of the consultation closing.
Office for Statistics Regulation
The Employment estimates within this release are Accredited Official Statistics and have been independently reviewed and regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The accreditation of these statistics was last confirmed in June 2019 by the OSR. For more detailed information on the accreditation of these statistics, please see the OSR website.
Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:
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Managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.
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Meeting identified user needs.
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Produced according to sound methods.
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Well explained and readily accessible.
Our wider statistical practice is also 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.
Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Pre-release access
The accompanying pre-release access document lists ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Contact
Responsible statistician: Rory Attwell
For any queries or feedback, please contact economicestimates@dsit.gov.uk.