Distribution of parental occupation

Published: 11 September 2024
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Data on the occupation level of adults in families with dependent children.

  1. Summary main findings
  2. By year
  3. By area
  4. About the data
  5. Download the data

Summary main findings

20% of adults in families with dependent children were in ‘higher professional’ occupations in 2022, up from 14% in 2014.

47% were in professional occupations (higher or lower) in 2022, up from 39% in 2014.

14% were in higher working class occupations in 2022, down from 19% in 2014.

34% were in working class occupations (higher or lower) in 2022, down from 40% in 2014.

By year

Visualisation

Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in different levels of occupation in the (UK, 2014 to 2022)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data

Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in different levels of occupation in the (UK, 2014 to 2022)
Year Lower working (%) Higher working (%) Intermediate (%) Lower professional (%) Higher professional (%)
2022 19.7 13.6 19.9 26.7 20.1
2021 19.2 13.3 21.7 26.1 19.7
2020 16.4 16.9 21.5 26.8 18.3
2019 18.3 17.3 21.7 26.1 16.6
2018 18.7 18.0 21.7 25.7 16.0
2017 18.7 18.7 21.9 25.2 15.5
2016 19.1 19.2 21.8 24.3 15.5
2015 20.8 19.1 21.4 24.1 14.6
2014 21.3 18.9 21.2 24.6 14.1
  • Download the data (CSV, 689B)

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    By area

    Visualisation

    Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in a lower working class or higher professional occupation, by region (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)

    41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest values. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

    The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.

    The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions. See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.

    Q1 - Lowest 20%
    Q5 - Highest 20%

    Data

    Percentage of adults in families with dependent children in a higher professional or lower working class occupation, by region (UK, 2014 to 2021 combined)
    Region Lower working (%) Higher professional (%)
    Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15.5 21.3
    Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 13.2 24.4
    Cheshire 15.2 21.6
    Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 17.7 10.3
    Cumbria 16.2 11.6
    Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 19.6 15.1
    Devon 15.6 14.4
    Dorset and Somerset 14.3 15.5
    East Anglia 16.8 16.8
    East Wales 19.3 15.2
    East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 24.8 9.9
    Eastern Scotland 18.9 17.1
    Essex 15.7 16.2
    Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area 14.1 20.6
    Greater Manchester 22.6 14.8
    Hampshire and Isle of Wight 15.2 18.8
    Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 16.1 19.0
    Highlands and Islands 15.0 11.5
    Inner London - East 26.3 18.0
    Inner London - West 19.0 29.7
    Kent 15.5 16.6
    Lancashire 21.4 12.2
    Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 20.4 15.5
    Lincolnshire 19.8 13.2
    Merseyside 20.2 15.6
    North Eastern Scotland 18.0 19.0
    North Yorkshire 13.3 17.2
    Northern Ireland 23.0 12.4
    Northumberland and Tyne and Wear 23.1 13.2
    Outer London - East and North East 20.6 15.3
    Outer London - South 14.2 24.0
    Outer London - West and North West 19.8 21.3
    Shropshire and Staffordshire 17.5 14.5
    South Yorkshire 23.8 10.8
    Southern Scotland 18.2 11.2
    Surrey, East and West Sussex 11.8 21.9
    Tees Valley and Durham 23.2 9.7
    West Central Scotland 22.9 14.8
    West Midlands 28.6 11.6
    West Wales and The Valleys 21.4 9.7
    West Yorkshire 24.2 14.5
  • Download the data (CSV, 1KB)

    • Download

    For the full download file, see Download the data.

    About the data

    Data source

    Labour Force Survey (LFS), Office for National Statistics

    Time period

    • 2014 to 2022 (By year)
    • 2014 to 2022 combined (By area)

    Geographic area

    UK

    What the data measures

    The data shows the occupation levels of adults in families with dependent children. Dependent children are all children aged 15 and under, and 16 to 18 year olds in full-time education. Adult respondents aged under 21 years old were not included.

    The occupation levels are:

    • higher professional
    • lower professional
    • intermediate
    • higher working
    • lower working

    Things you need to know

    The median age of survey respondents was 40 years old. The majority of respondents are likely to be the parents or carers of dependent children. Some could be adults living in homes with parents who have dependent children.

    Data is weighted using LFS person weights.

    Due to rounding, some totals may not add up to 100%.

    The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. Read more about confidence intervals

    Type of data

    Survey data

    Full report

    Read more in State of the Nation 2024 on GOV.UK.

    Download the data

    Download full dataset (CSV, 61KB)

    This file contains the following variables:

    • Indicator code
    • Indicator name
    • Area type
    • Area code
    • Area name
    • Time period
    • Socio-economic background
    • Age
    • Sex
    • Category type
    • Category
    • Value
    • Sample size
    • Lower confidence interval
    • Upper confidence interval
    • Standard error
    • Unit

    Page history

    Publication release date:

    11 September 2024

    Editions of this page:

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