Occupational level of young people aged 25 to 29 years
Published:
11 September 2024
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Data on the occupational class people are in at 25 to 29 years old, by socio-economic background.
Summary main findings
Young people’s socio-economic background is strongly linked to their occupational level when they are 25 to 29 years old. There has been little change in this link since 2014.
In 2022, 32% of 25 to 29 year olds from a higher professional background were in a higher professional occupation, compared with 7% of those from a lower working class background.
34% of young people from a lower working class background worked in a lower working class occupation, compared with 12% of those from a higher professional background.
Data for 2014 to 2022 combined shows that young women were less likely to be in higher professional occupations than young men from the same socio-economic background. They were more likely to be in lower professional occupations.
For example, among young people from higher professional backgrounds:
- 21% of young women and 29% of young men were in higher professional occupations
- 37% of young women and 31% of young men were in lower professional occupations
Compared with young White British people from the same socio-economic background, young people from Pakistani, Other and White Other ethnic groups had significantly lower chances of being in professional occupations.
Young people with a disability were more likely to be in a lower working class occupation than people without a disability but with the same socio-economic background.
By socio-economic background
Visualisation
Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds in different occupational levels, by socio-economic background (UK, 2022)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Socio-economic background | Lower working (%) | Higher working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Lower professional (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | 12.3 | 7.9 | 15.0 | 32.6 | 32.1 |
| Lower professional | 16.6 | 12.6 | 15.8 | 33.4 | 21.6 |
| Intermediate | 20.6 | 14.9 | 21.9 | 23.1 | 19.5 |
| Higher working | 20.2 | 20.5 | 20.0 | 26.6 | 12.7 |
| Lower working | 34.2 | 17.6 | 20.2 | 20.8 | 7.2 |
| All backgrounds | 20.2 | 14.2 | 18.5 | 27.6 | 19.5 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Percentage point difference in the likelihood of being in a professional occupation at 25 to 29 years old, compared to the national average (UK, 2018 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.
Data
| Region | Difference compared to average |
|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 5.3 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 2.1 |
| Cheshire | 1.6 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | -1.6 |
| Cumbria | -2.3 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | -0.3 |
| Devon | 0.7 |
| Dorset and Somerset | -0.9 |
| East Anglia | -1.0 |
| East Wales | -1.5 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | -0.5 |
| Eastern Scotland | -0.9 |
| Essex | 2.0 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | -0.6 |
| Greater Manchester | -1.6 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 0.8 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 2.1 |
| Highlands and Islands | -2.2 |
| Inner London - East | 2.8 |
| Inner London - West | 2.1 |
| Kent | 2.4 |
| Lancashire | -0.1 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 0.4 |
| Lincolnshire | -2.6 |
| Merseyside | -2.5 |
| North Eastern Scotland | -1.0 |
| North Yorkshire | 4.6 |
| Northern Ireland | -4.0 |
| Northumberland and Tyne and Wear | -3.2 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 4.4 |
| Outer London - South | 0.8 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 3.4 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | -0.6 |
| South Yorkshire | -1.0 |
| Southern Scotland | -4.2 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 3.0 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | -2.2 |
| West Central Scotland | 0.0 |
| West Midlands | -0.5 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | -0.6 |
| West Yorkshire | -2.7 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By sex
Visualisation
Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds in different occupational levels, by socio-economic background and sex (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Socio-economic background | Sex | Lower working (%) | Higher working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Lower professional (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | Men | 13.1 | 12.1 | 15.6 | 30.7 | 28.6 |
| Women | 11.5 | 11.0 | 19.6 | 37.0 | 21.0 | |
| Lower professional | Men | 15.0 | 17.1 | 18.3 | 28.3 | 21.3 |
| Women | 14.4 | 14.6 | 20.7 | 35.4 | 14.9 | |
| Intermediate | Men | 18.6 | 21.4 | 21.3 | 22.9 | 15.9 |
| Women | 19.2 | 18.9 | 23.6 | 28.5 | 9.8 | |
| Higher working | Men | 21.7 | 27.7 | 17.4 | 21.2 | 12.1 |
| Women | 19.1 | 25.2 | 21.8 | 26.5 | 7.4 | |
| Lower working | Men | 32.8 | 27.3 | 16.9 | 15.6 | 7.5 |
| Women | 29.0 | 26.0 | 21.3 | 19.1 | 4.5 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By ethnicity
Visualisation
Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds in a professional occupation, by ethnicity and socio-economic background (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Ethnicity | Lower working (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladeshi | 20.8 | 54.7 |
| Chinese | 24.3 | 59.7 |
| Indian | 30.8 | 67.2 |
| Pakistani | 16.8 | 48.2 |
| Black African | 22.2 | 56.7 |
| Black Caribbean | 23.4 | 58.5 |
| Mixed | 26.5 | 62.4 |
| White British | 23.8 | 59.0 |
| White other | 20.4 | 54.1 |
| Other | 19.6 | 52.9 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By disability status
Visualisation
Percentage of 25 to 29 year olds in different occupational levels, by socio-economic background and disability status (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Socio-economic background | Disabled | Lower working (%) | Higher working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Lower professional (%) | Higher professional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | Yes | 22.3 | 12.9 | 20.6 | 26.1 | 18.0 |
| No | 10.9 | 11.4 | 17.1 | 34.8 | 25.8 | |
| Lower professional | Yes | 25.9 | 18.1 | 18.5 | 27.4 | 10.1 |
| No | 12.9 | 15.5 | 19.7 | 32.5 | 19.4 | |
| Intermediate | Yes | 30.9 | 21.6 | 21.4 | 19.0 | 7.1 |
| No | 16.8 | 20.0 | 22.6 | 26.6 | 13.9 | |
| Higher working | Yes | 35.5 | 25.3 | 15.7 | 17.2 | 6.3 |
| No | 17.8 | 26.6 | 20.2 | 24.9 | 10.4 | |
| Lower working | Yes | 48.1 | 23.6 | 15.3 | 10.6 | 2.5 |
| No | 26.1 | 27.4 | 20.2 | 19.2 | 7.0 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Time period
- 2022 (By socio-economic background)
- 2014 to 2022 combined (By sex, by ethnicity, by disability status)
- 2018 to 2022 combined (By area)
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows the occupation level of 25 to 29 year olds in the UK, by socio-economic background.
We use the following 5 categories of socio-economic background and occupational level:
- higher professional and managerial
- lower professional and managerial
- intermediate
- higher working class
- lower working class
These are based on the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (‘NS-SEC’), set by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Things you need to know
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.
For data by sex, ethnicity and disability status, data from 2014 to 2022 is combined to get more accurate estimates. Data by area from 2018 to 2022 is combined.
The data by ethnicity shows whether young people are in a professional occupation (either higher or lower professional). Percentages are shown only for people from lower working class and higher professional backgrounds. This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to measure all socio-economic backgrounds and occupation levels reliably. The estimated percentages are those for men.
For data by disability status, respondents were asked if they had a health condition or illness lasting 12 months or more, and if that condition reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.
Areas are based on where the respondents were living when they were aged 14.
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, 56KB)
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
- Category type2
- Category2
- Value
- Sample size
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Standard error
- Unit
- Value note
Page history
Publication release date:
11 September 2024