The industrial analysis

Analysis of the 10 broad industrial groups shows that in 2023, the government, health, and education industries provided the largest contribution to gross value added (GVA) at current basic prices. These industries contributed 18.9% to the total GVA of £2,497 billion, with a value of £473 billion. Of the remaining industries:

• distribution, transport, hotels, and restaurants contributed 16.1%

• real estate (including imputed rental of owner-occupied housing) contributed 13.9%

• professional, scientific, and support contributed 13.6%

• production contributed 13.5%

In 2023, of all goods and services within final demand:

• households consumed 45.1%

• government, both central and local, consumed 15.5%

• gross capital formation, by all sectors of the economy, consumed 13.9%

• 11.4% were exported goods, and 12.6% were exported services

• non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) consumed 1.5%

The government, health, and education industries contributed the most to compensation of employees in 2023 at £366 billion (27.6% of the whole economy). The second largest industry grouping, in terms of their contribution to total compensation of employees, were the distribution, transport, and hotels and restaurants industries at £266 billion (20.0%).

The annual estimates included in the UK National Accounts, The Blue Book: 2025 edition, incorporate the results of annual inquiries that become available in the first part of the year. However, estimates for 2024 are based largely on quarterly information. Any newly collected data are shown as revisions. To reassess these estimates, supply and use tables (SUTs) are prepared using all the available information on inputs, outputs, gross value added and income and expenditure. To produce consolidated sector and financial accounts requires preparation of "top-to-bottom" sector and subsector accounts to identify discrepancies in the estimates relating to each sector.

The latest annual SUTs provide estimates for the years 1997 to 2023. Data for 2023 are balanced for the first time. Data for 2021 and 2022 have been fully re-balanced. Data from 1997 to 2020 have been revised to incorporate changes required under new international standards and guidelines, as well as to make sure the data are comparable and meet user needs.

Table 2.1a: Summary supply and use tables 2020

Table 2.1b: Summary supply and use tables 2021

Table 2.1c: Summary supply and use tables 2022

Table 2.1d: Summary supply and use tables 2023

Further general information regarding the supply and use framework and the balancing process can be found in our Guide to UK National Accounts methodology.

The analyses of gross value added (GVA) and other variables by industry, shown in Tables 2.1, 2.1A, and 2.2 in the accompanying dataset (XLS, 3.4 MB), reflect estimates based on Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC 2007). These tables are based on current price data reconciled through the input-output supply and use the framework from 1997 to 2023.

Estimates of total output and GVA are valued at basic prices; the method recommended by the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). Therefore, the only taxes and subsidies included in the price will be those paid or received as part of the production process (such as business rates), rather than those associated with the production of a unit of output (such as Value Added Tax).

This also includes supplementary information for the different components that make up GVA for each industry. Under the income approach, GVA is split into compensation of employees (CoE), taxes less subsidies on production, gross operating surplus (GOS), and mixed income. Estimates of each industry's intermediate consumption and total output are also published, with the difference between the two equalling GVA.

This additional information allows for more detailed analysis of national output to be conducted. For example, CoE can be used to calculate how much of an industry's production income is spent on wages, salaries, and employers' social contributions. GOS data can be used to estimate how much profit is generated by companies after considering labour costs and taxes less subsidies.

Worksheet 2.3 in the accompanying dataset (XLS, 3.4 MB) shows chained volume estimates of gross value added (GVA) at basic prices by industry. These GVA measures are based on appropriately deflated data that have been reconciled through the supply and use tables (SUTs) framework for the years 1997 to 2023.

These industry-level estimates from within the SUTs framework are based on more detailed information than those that currently feed into the industry short-term volume estimates. This not only reflects that the annual estimates are based on a wider range of annual surveys and administrative information, but that it is also measuring the correct concept of GVA, rather than turnover as a proxy indicator. Monthly and quarterly industry data in Blue Book 2025 are benchmarked to these annual volume estimates up to 2023.

Data from after the supply use balanced years (2024 onwards) are derived from the movements in the short-term measures of output (such as Index of Production and Index of Services).

Workforce jobs (WFJ) is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry. A person can have more than one job; the number of jobs is not the same as the number of people employed.

Table 2.4 in the accompanying dataset (XLS, 3.4 MB) breaks down WFJ into 10 broad industry groupings on Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC 2007).

The main component of WFJ is employee jobs. Estimates for employee jobs are obtained mainly from surveys of businesses selected from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). All other business surveys collecting economic data also use this register.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS), a household survey, collects self-employment jobs data for all SIC sections, employee jobs data for SIC sections A and T, and government-supported trainees data for England. It codes respondents according to their own view of the industry they work in, therefore the industry breakdown is less reliable than that of the business surveys.

WFJ also includes His Majesty's Forces (within industry section O) and government-supported trainees. Government-supported trainees from the devolved administrations are sourced from administrative sources, split by industry using the LFS.