1. Main points
In 2021, 1.1 million children (8.9%) lived in long-term workless households, up 1.0 percentage points on the previous year.
Of all the children in workless households, 86.0% lived in long-term workless households.
The lowest percentage of children in long-term workless households was in the South East (5.3%).
The highest percentage of children in long-term workless households was in the North East (16.8%).
2. Children living in long-term workless households in the UK data
Children living in long-term workless households (Table A1)
Dataset | Released on 26 October 2022
Annual estimates of the number of children living in households in the UK where all the adults have not worked for at least 12 months.
Children living in long-term workless households, by combined economic status (Table B)
Dataset | Released on 26 October 2022
Annual estimates of the number of children living in households in the UK where all the adults have not worked for at least 12 months, by combined economic status of adults in the household.
Children living in long-term workless households, by region (Table D)
Dataset | Released on 26 October 2022
Annual estimates of the number of children living in households in the UK where all the adults have not worked for at least 12 months, by region of residence
3. Measuring the data
Annual Population Survey (APS) household datasets are used for the 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 number of children living in workless households (households where no adult is in employment) and long-term workless households (households where no adult has worked in the previous 12 months).
APS reweighting
APS estimates published in the bulletin have been reweighted for periods from January to December 2020, using updated Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data. The non-response bias adjustment previously implemented for England, Wales and Scotland data, has now also been applied to Northern Ireland data. Our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: 2022 article explains the impact and gives a more detailed reweighting timeline.
Coronavirus
For information on how labour market data sources are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see our Coronavirus and the effects on UK labour market statistics article, published on 6 May 2020. This article details some of the challenges that we have faced in producing estimates. 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.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys5. Cite this statistical bulletin
Office for National Statistics (ONS), published 26 October 2022, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Children living in long-term workless households in the UK: 2021