Working and workless households in the UK: January to March 2024

• Labour Force Survey (LFS) household estimates have been weighted to population estimates published in November 2023 for periods from October to December 2023 onwards; a discontinuity has been introduced at this point, so comparisons before this point are not possible.

• Increased volatility of the LFS estimates, resulting from smaller achieved sample sizes, means that estimates of quarterly change should be treated with additional caution.

• Of the estimated 21.4 million households (where at least one member is aged 16 to 64 years) in the UK, 58.9% had all household members aged 16 years and over in employment during January to March 2024.

• There were an estimated 26.7% of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult.

• There were an estimated 14.4% of households where no member of the household was in employment.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets are used for analysis of family or household characteristics. For all analysis in this bulletin, a household is defined as containing at least one person aged 16 to 64 years. This bulletin focuses on the economic status of household members. For example:

• number of people in employment in the household

• number of people unemployed in the household

• number of people economically inactive in the household

All estimates in this release are not seasonally adjusted and all comparisons should be carried out on an annual basis (for example, by comparing April to June periods with April to June periods, or October to December periods with October to December periods).

Our Comparison of labour market data sources article published on 27 April 2022 compares our labour market data sources and discusses some of the main differences.

LFS household estimates from October to December 2023 onwards have been reweighted to information on the size and composition of the UK population, consistent with the population estimates published in November 2023. This reweighting creates a discontinuity between July to September 2023 and October to December 2023. Users should account for this discontinuity when considering long-term movements in the series.

Reweighting the LFS does not address the volatility seen in recent periods and that may be seen to some extent in the future. Therefore, we advise increased caution when interpreting short-term changes in the series.

LFS estimates are currently not considered National Statistics and are designated as official statistics in development.

For further information, please see our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators article.