Type of employment opportunities for young people
Published:
18 December 2025
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Data on the occupational level of 22 to 29 year olds in the UK, from 2014 to 2024.
Summary main findings
In the last decade, there has been an increase in professional employment opportunities for young people.
From 2014 to 2024:
- the percentage of 22 to 29 year olds in professional and managerial jobs went up from 38% to 49%
- the percentage in higher working class jobs (skilled manual work) went down from 25% to 17%
The combined data for 2014 to 2024 shows that young people in London and the South East were:
- more likely to work in higher professional occupations than those in other parts of the UK
- far less likely to work in lower working occupations
By year
Visualisation
Percentage of 22 to 29 year olds in each of the 5 occupational classes, over time (UK, 2014 to 2024)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Year | Lower working (%) | Higher working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Lower professional (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 14.2 | 17.4 | 19.8 | 29.6 | 18.9 |
| 2023 | 15.6 | 16.9 | 19.8 | 26.7 | 21.0 |
| 2022 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 20.8 | 28.3 | 18.1 |
| 2021 | 15.7 | 17.4 | 22.9 | 27.0 | 16.9 |
| 2020 | 12.7 | 20.4 | 22.1 | 30.5 | 14.2 |
| 2019 | 13.0 | 23.5 | 21.4 | 28.2 | 13.8 |
| 2018 | 13.8 | 22.9 | 22.6 | 27.4 | 13.3 |
| 2017 | 14.9 | 24.7 | 22.7 | 26.8 | 10.9 |
| 2016 | 14.3 | 25.8 | 22.4 | 26.0 | 11.5 |
| 2015 | 15.4 | 24.4 | 22.6 | 26.5 | 11.1 |
| 2014 | 15.5 | 25.1 | 21.6 | 27.3 | 10.5 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Percentage of 22 to 29 year olds in lower working and higher professional occupations, by area (UK, 2014 to 2024 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.
Data
| Region | Lower working (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 12.9 | 16.1 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 12.5 | 19.6 |
| Cheshire | 13.8 | 15.3 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 20.1 | 8.5 |
| Cumbria | 15.7 | 8.5 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 15.0 | 13.7 |
| Devon | 13.1 | 11.7 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 14.8 | 11.3 |
| East Anglia | 15.5 | 12.0 |
| East Wales | 12.8 | 13.7 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 20.4 | 9.2 |
| Eastern Scotland | 17.8 | 12.8 |
| Essex | 11.3 | 14.2 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | 11.7 | 15.2 |
| Greater Manchester | 15.2 | 15.5 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 12.3 | 13.6 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 13.0 | 13.2 |
| Highlands and Islands | 20.1 | 5.7 |
| Inner London - East | 10.7 | 24.5 |
| Inner London - West | 8.0 | 33.0 |
| Kent | 12.8 | 10.9 |
| Lancashire | 14.9 | 9.3 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 14.9 | 13.0 |
| Lincolnshire | 13.9 | 7.7 |
| Merseyside | 12.5 | 12.3 |
| North Eastern Scotland | 22.4 | 9.7 |
| North Yorkshire | 12.5 | 14.5 |
| Northern Ireland | 18.5 | 12.8 |
| Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear | 17.6 | 11.2 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 11.8 | 16.8 |
| Outer London - South | 12.5 | 21.9 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 12.9 | 18.9 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 17.6 | 10.9 |
| South Yorkshire | 18.5 | 11.5 |
| Southern Scotland | 18.9 | 7.7 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 12.3 | 15.7 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | 19.0 | 9.0 |
| West Central Scotland | 21.0 | 14.0 |
| West Midlands | 17.3 | 12.8 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | 17.3 | 7.4 |
| West Yorkshire | 17.5 | 12.9 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics (ONS), Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Time period
- 2014 to 2024 (By year)
- 2014 to 2024 combined (By area)
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows the occupation level of employed 22 to 29 year olds in the UK between 2014 and 2024. It also shows data by region.
Things you need to know
Socio-economic background is based on the main earner’s occupation when the respondent was 14 years old. If there was no earner in the family, respondents are included in the lower working class category.
Data is weighted using LFS person weights.
Due to rounding, some totals may not add up to 100%.
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2025 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 33KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Measure code
- Measure title
- Chart type
- Area code
- Area type
- Area name
- Primary split type
- Primary split value
- Secondary split type
- Secondary split value
- Tertiary split type
- Tertiary split value
- Time period
- Value
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Sample size
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
18 December 2025