Census 2021: new data on the Labour market and travel to work

Friday 13 January 2023 9.17am

Census 2021 headline results for (1) sexual orientation & gender identity (appended to the Demography & Migration topic report) and (2) the labour market and travel to work in Herefordshire are now available to download from the Census 2021 webpage. The following are a few key points from the labour market and the modes and distances travelled to work report:

• An ageing population has driven a fall in economic activity, with rising numbers of people who are retired - 59% of Herefordshire’s usual residents aged 16 and over were either working or seeking work in the week before the census 2021, down from 63% in 2011.
• Over a quarter (28%) of usual residents aged 16 years and over were economically inactive because of retirement (compared with 22% nationally).
• 12% of all 16+ year-olds in Herefordshire are self-employed – one of the top 10% rates out of all local authorities across England and Wales.
• Herefordshire’s working residents were more likely to work in agriculture, forestry and fishing than in England and Wales as a whole (5% vs. 1% - the 10th highest rate in the country).
• The lockdown meant that significantly more people in employment worked mainly at or from home than in 2011 (26% compared with 6%).

You can explore the data yourself using the Census maps on the ONS website.

The next release will be on education.