Economic activity status

The Census questions asked whether a person was working or looking for work in the week before Census 2021. Census 2021 took place during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a period of unparalleled and rapid change; the national lockdown, associated guidance and furlough measures will have affected the labour market topic.

There are three main types of economic activity status:

economically active: in employment (an employee or self-employed)
economically active: unemployed (those who were looking for work and could start within two weeks, or waiting to start a job that had been offered and accepted)
economically inactive (those who did not have a job between 15 March and 21 March 2021 and had not looked for work between 22 February and 21 March 2021 or could not start work within two weeks)

The economically active population includes people who were put on furlough at the time of Census 2021, who were considered to be temporarily away from work.

The economically inactive were recorded as being one of the following:

retired (whether receiving a pension or not)
studying
looking after home or family
long-term sick or disabled
another reason

Because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the UK labour market, in some areas the estimated number of people who were economically inactive might be higher than anticipated. It is possible that some people on furlough may have identified as economically inactive, instead of temporarily away from work. People who were retired made up the greatest percentage of the economically inactive population in 2021.