Employees by industry sector
The employees by industry sector figures provide an indicator how the total number of jobs held by employees (based on the location of the workplace) are divided across industrial sectors. As these figures are workplace-based, some changes in employee numbers are the result of administrative changes and do not directly translate to actual changes in jobs within the local area.
The UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 provides a framework for categorising industrial activities. Broad industry sectors are classified as A to U sections, which can be grouped as service-related industries (such as wholesale and retail trade) and non-service-related industries (such as manufacturing and construction). These industrial sectors can also be further broken down into detailed sub-classifications. Further details on industry classifications are provided in the 'Things you need to know about this data' section below.
The latest figures are for 2023 and are provisional.
Key figures
- Wholesale and retail trade, human health and social work, manufacturing, and education sectors account for a little over half of all employees in both Lancashire-12 (52.7%) and Lancashire-14 (53.7%).
- Manufacturing remains a key sector locally, having the largest difference in the proportion of total employees by sector in Lancashire-12 (13.1%) and Lancashre-14 (12.9%) compared to England overall (7.4%).
- Information and communication services, professional, scientific and technical activities and financial and insurance activities sectors account for a smaller proportion of total employees in both Lancashire-12 (10.4%) and Lancashire-14 (9.7%) compared to England (17.8%).
- Compared to 2022, there was an increase in the overall number of employees across industries which was greater in Lancashire-12 (+2.1%) than in both Lancashire-14 (+1.5%) and England (+1.3%).
- The administrative and support services sector saw the largest yearly increase in the number of employees in Lancashire-12 and Lancashire-14 (an additional 6,000 employees in both areas), while the largest reductions were in the accommodation and food services sector for both Lancashire-12 (3,000 fewer employees) and Lancashire-14 (5,000 fewer employees).
Key sectors by locality
At the district and unitary authority level, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing and health and social care are the top three industries by proportion of employees in the majority of areas.
- The wholesale and retail trade sector accounted for the largest (or joint largest) proportion of employees working for businesses located in six districts. This sector accounted for around a fifth of employees in Burnley (21.0%) and Hyndburn (19.9%), while the greatest numbers of employees were in Preston (16,000) and Blackburn with Darwen (11,000).
- The manufacturing sector accounted for the largest (or joint largest) proportion of employees working for businesses located in five districts. This sector accounted for a quarter or more of employees in Ribble Valley (27.0%) and Pendle (26.6%). Notably, the proportion of employees in the manufacture of other transport equipment subsector is over three times greater in Lancashire-12 (18.5%) than in England (5.4%). This reflects the substantial aerospace industry in Lancashire, with most of these employees in Fylde (5,000) and Ribble Valley (5,000).
- The health and social work sector accounted for the largest proportion of employees working for businesses located four districts, including Blackpool (24.4%) and Blackburn with Darwen (22.8%), Preston (18.3%) and Lancaster (17.2%). These higher proportions were broadly attributable to the major hospitals located within these localities.
Reflecting differences in geography and large employers, a different profile of employee proportions by industry sectors are found in some areas.
- Accommodation and food services comprise a tenth or more of employees in Blackpool (13.0%), Fylde (10.3%), Lancaster (10.3%), Ribble Valley (10.1%) and Wyre (10.1%), reflecting the higher levels of tourism in these areas.
- Professional, scientific, and technical activities comprised less than a tenth of employees in all areas of Lancashire-14, apart from Fylde (20.6%) where several large employers offering accounting, auditing and tax consultancy services operate.
- Education was the second largest industrial sector in Lancaster, accounting for 15.5% of employees, which can be attributed to the presence of two universities in this district.
- The public administration and defence sector was the third largest sector in Preston, accounting for 14.2% of employees, owing to the district being the administrative centre of Lancashire-12.
- Construction is the fourth largest industrial sector in South Ribble (10.0% of employees), reflecting the presence of large construction companies in the district. However, this workforce is highly mobile and likely to have the largest discontinuity between a person's registered place of work, their actual working site and their residence.
- The arts, entertainment and recreation sector accounts for less than 3% of the total employees in all areas of Lancashire-14, apart from Blackpool (5.7%), owing to the larger presence of businesses catering to tourist seeking these activities.
- Although the agriculture sector accounts for a small number of employees, this sector had the largest proportion of employees working for businesses located in West Lancashire (3.5%), which can be attributed to the significant production of vegetables and crops on the high-grade farming land in this district.
- The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector is relatively small, however this sector makes up a much larger proportion of the employees in Lancaster (2.1%), owing to the production of electricity at power stations located in this district.
Source: Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) from the Office for National Statistics via the National On-line Manpower Information System (Nomisweb), powered by LG Inform Plus.
Definitions of employees
These figures include estimates of the number of employees in both public and private sector businesses. The Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) defines an employee as anyone aged 16 and above who is paid directly from a business' payroll in return for carrying out full-time or part-time (30 hours per week or less) work or is on a training scheme. This excludes any voluntary employees and agency employees paid directly from an agency payroll.
Industry sectors
The BRES uses the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 to categorise industrial activities. The UK SIC 2007 includes A to U sections, capturing broad industrial sectors. The sections can be further broken down into two-digit divisions, three-digit groups, four-digit classes and five-digit subclasses.
Full details on the UK SIC 2007 can be found on the ONS page.
The figures provided by LG Inform for recent small area geographies (MSOAs and wards) group some industry sections (apart from section G: wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles which is provided by two-digit division).
Data availability
The BRES is an annual survey and the primary source of employee and employment estimates by detailed geography and industry for businesses in England, Scotland and Wales, (representing much of the Great Britain economy). It is a point-in-time survey requesting employee counts on a specific date in the year (the first Friday after the second Thursday in September). Provisional results from BRES are released 12 months after the reference period. Revised results are released 24 months after the reference period.
Due to a change to the methodology (the inclusion of a population of solely Pay as You Earn (PAYE) businesses with employment counts of less than 20), figures from BRES prior to 2015 are not directly comparable.
Employee estimates for farm agriculture are collected separately by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and brought into the BRES dataset. BRES estimates have included farms agriculture figures at a local authority district level since 2019, with these figures having been reworked or modelled back to 2009.
Note that rounding rules apply to BRES estimates when broken down into industry sectors and small area level data has lower levels of rounding applied. Full details are available from Nomisweb.
Estimates of jobs can also be compiled from other sources, including short-term employment surveys (STES), the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). These sources provide a less detailed breakdown of employment.
Limitations
BRES figures are based on a sample of approximately 80,000 businesses and can be affected by sampling variability. This means that there is some uncertainty attached to the estimates of employees. For areas with smaller sample sizes, such as the district-level, there will be a higher level of uncertainty. Any differences in the figures for employees between geographies or years should be interpreted with this in mind, as they may not reflect a true difference.
The UK SIC undergoes periodic revision. This means that some changes in longer-term employee numbers that do not directly translate to actual changes in jobs within the local area can occur as a result.
Page updated 9th June 2025