The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated November 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) UK nationals, (b) UK-born people, (c) non-UK EU nationals and (d) non-KU nationals of working age were in employment in the (i) public and (ii) private sector in each of the last eight quarters for which figures are available; what proportion of the number of people employed in each sector the figures in each such category represent; and what the equivalent figures were in 1987. (300823)
The available information is shown in the attached tables. The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates for 1987 are not available. The earliest available estimates on a comparable basis are for 1995 and these have therefore been included.
In the LFS the distinction between public and private sector is based on respondents' views about the organisation for which they work. The public sector estimates provided do not correspond to official Public Sector Employment estimates. Those are derived directly from employers and are based on National Accounts definitions, but do not include a nationality breakdown.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. This is assessed in a footnote to the table.
The figures in the table are derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in autumn 2007. They are not entirely consistent with the figures published in the monthly Labour Market Statistical Bulletin, which are weighted using more up-to-date population estimates.
Thousand Public sector2,3 Private sector2,4 Total employment4,5 UK nationals UK born Non-UK EU nationals6 Non-EU nationals6 UK nationals UK born Non-UK EU nationals6 Non-EU nationals6 UK nationals UK born Non-UK EU nationals6 Non-EU nationals6 1995 Q3 5,729 5,493 86 116 18,451 17,783 292 345 24,357 23,444 381 467 2007 Q4 6,305 5,979 148 218 19,618 18,617 859 936 26,050 24,718 1,010 1,163 2008 Q1 6,299 5,970 136 249 19,447 18,457 928 928 25,870 24,547 1,068 1,186 2008 Q2 6,349 6,025 138 236 19,404 18,388 917 955 25,882 24,532 1,065 1,201 2008 Q3 6,293 5,973 134 238 19,513 18,493 906 988 25,928 24,580 1,045 1,234 2008 Q4 6,387 6,052 124 266 19,245 18,206 923 1,015 25,749 24,372 1,052 1,290 2009 Q1 6,443 6,109 113 268 18,891 17,842 979 940 25,454 24,067 1,097 1,215 2009Q2 5,444 6,124 125 263 18,658 17,639 949 917 25,227 23,881 1,078 1,190 2009 Q37 *6,514 *6,192 ***130 **247 *18,775 *17,771 *922 *912 *25,416 *24,082 *1,060 1,168
Part 2: Working age employment in public and private sector by nationality and country of birth, as a proportion of the total working age employment in each sector. Three months ending September 1395 and three months ending March, June, September and December, 2007 to 2003 United Kingdom, not seasonally adjustedPercentagePublic sector2,3Private sector2,4Total employment4,5UK nationalsUK bornNon-UK EU nationals6Non-EU nationals6UK nationalsUK bornNon-UK EU nationals6Non-EU nationals6UK nationalsUK bornNon-UK EU nationals6Non-EU nationals61995 Q39793129793229793222007 Q49590239287449288442008 Q19488249187449287442008 Q29490249186459287442008 Q39490249186459287442008 Q49489249186459287452009 Q19490249186559287442009 Q29490249186559287442009 Q3959024918654928744 1 Men aged 16-64 and woman aged 16-19.2 It should be noted that public and private sector estimates- are based on survey respondents' views about the organisation for which they work.- do not correspond to the national Accounts definition used for public Sector Employment estimates.3 Includes nationalised industry or state corporation, central government, civil service, local government or council (incl. police, fire services and local authority controlled schools or colleges), university or other grant funded educational establishments, health authority or NHS trust and armed forces4 Includes self employed and unpaid family workers5 Includes those whose type of employer was not known6 Non-UK EU comprises Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden only in 1995 Q3. Meaningful comparisons between 1995 Q3 and 2009 Q3 are not possible due to the changes in the composition of the EU.7 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period of the quality of the estimates, as described below.Guide to Quality:The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220Key Statistical Robustness* Estimates are considered precise** Estimates are considered reasonably precise*** Estimates are considered acceptable**** Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposesSource:Annual Population Survey and Annual Labour Force Survey