FOI Reference: FOI/2021/3405
You asked
How many women and men are employed in the fashion industry in the UK? How many female graduates have graduated in fashion compared to men in UK universities?
We said
Thank you for your request.
The ONS collects employment information along with educational history, such as level of qualification and subject area, using the Annual Population Survey (APS), a survey based on interviews with members of private households in the UK.
The survey only collects subject area based on very broad categories, with fashion likely to be included in the broad subject area of Arts.
Industries in the APS are classified in line with the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC07). The fashion industry can be defined using several industries at a detailed level. The industries that have previously been used to define the fashion industry are listed here.
We do not routinely publish estimates of the number of people employed in industries at this level of detail, or of graduates' field of study, from the APS. You can request an ad-hoc analysis to be produced from our Social Surveys team. Please note that we may charge for this ad-hoc analysis, depending on the amount of time taken to develop our analysis and undertake quality and disclosure control processes. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/statistics/requestingstatistics/makingarequest
Alternatively, for an estimate of the number of people employed in the fashion industry, the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) publishes employee and employment estimates at detailed industrial levels. Industries in BRES are also classified in line with the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC07).
At this level of industry detail, BRES can only provide estimates for Great Britain, not the United Kingdom. Additionally, BRES cannot provide estimates of the number of men and women employed in these industries.
The BRES employment estimates can be found published on NOMIS. The latest estimate (2020) of the number of people in employment in the fashion industry in Great Britain, according to the detailed industry list above, was 617,000. Of these, 600,000 were employees.
Although the ONS does not produce detailed estimates of the number of graduates in different subjects, the Department for Education holds more detail on higher education graduates and may be better placed to answer your query regarding fashion graduates. You can make an Freedom of Information request for them on the following form Department for Education FOI Request form.