Official Statistics

Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector, January 2024 to December 2024

Published 10 July 2025

1. Details

This publication provides estimates of employment in the Digital Sector and the United Kingdom (UK) overall based on the latest 2024 data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). For this purpose, estimates will cover employment (measured by the number of filled jobs) in the Digital Sector from January 2024 to December 2024 (calendar year).

Statistics in this release have been reclassified as Official Statistics in Development due to issues with low sample size in underlying Annual Population Survey data. This is in line with what other statistical organisations (including the ONS) have done with similar releases. For further information on this decision, please see Section 4: Technical Note.

Approximate number of filled jobs discussed in this report are rounded to the nearest 1,000 or the nearest 10,000 where figures are over 1 million.

2. Highlights

• These statistics indicate a decrease in Digital Sector filled jobs from 1.89 million in 2023 to 1.77 million in 2024; this is the first decrease reported in the last 10 years. This decrease in Digital Sector employment follows a period of rapid growth from 2019 to 2022 and a plateau in growth between 2022 and 2023.
• Digital Sector filled jobs fell by approximately 120,000 or 6.3% between 2023 and 2024. By comparison, employment in the UK overall increased by approximately 63,000 filled jobs or 0.2% from 34.01 million in 2023 to 34.07 million in 2024.
• The Digital Sector accounted for 5.2% of the UK’s filled jobs in 2024, down from 5.6% in 2023.
• Between 2023 and 2024, the largest decreases in employment were in the ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’, ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ and ‘Telecommunications’ subsectors, down 50,000, 47,000 and 21,000 filled jobs respectively.
• The proportion of filled jobs held by female workers in the Digital Sector was 28.5% in 2024, a slight decrease from 29.1% in 2023. The proportion of filled jobs held by disabled workers was 15.1% in 2024, a slight increase from 13.7% in 2023. The Digital Sector continued to under-represent these groups compared to the UK overall (within which 48.1% were female workers and 18.4% were disabled workers).
• Filled jobs in the Digital Sector held by individuals aged 16-24 decreased by 39.6% or approximately 66,000 filled jobs from 2023 to 2024. The proportion of filled jobs held by individuals aged 16-24 continued to be lower than the UK overall at 5.7% of filled jobs compared with 10.6%.

3. Sectors

The estimates reported in this release cover employment (measured by the number of filled jobs) in the Digital Sector and its subsectors, as well as employment in the UK overall.

It should be noted that while the Telecommunications Sector is considered a sector in its own right, it is also a subsector within the Digital Sector. Aggregates based on the Digital Sector, therefore, include data from the Telecommunications Sector in addition to all other Digital Subsectors.

Please see the associated technical and quality assurance report for more information on how we define the Digital Sector and its subsectors.

4. Technical Note

The ‘Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector, January 2024 to December 2024’ report is derived from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS). This statistical release provides estimates of the number of filled jobs, including both full-time and part-time jobs, in the Digital Sector for the calendar year January 2024 and December 2024. Estimates for January 2023 to December 2023, published by DSIT in July 2024, have been used to produce comparisons in this report.

The statistics in this series (including this release) will be classified as Official Statistics in Development until further review. Previous releases in this series have been classed as Accredited Official Statistics – meaning they comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has now removed accreditation at our request, following ONS reporting concerns with the quality of estimates for smaller segments of the APS population, which the Digital Sector Economic Estimates: Employment series depends upon.

Our approach in moving the Digital Sector Economic Estimates: Employment series to Official Statistics in Development is in line with ONS’s decision to consider its APS based labour market statistics as Official Statistics in Development until further review.

In addition to reclassifying Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector estimates as Official Statistics in Development, we have removed breakdowns to the individual SIC code level due to low sample sizes. We have also included coefficient of variation and confidence interval measures of variability to provide further information on the statistical robustness of employment estimates.

In order to produce these Economic Estimates, it is necessary to define the make-up of the economy and the sectors comprising it. The Digital Sector definition is based on Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC) codes. This allows data sources to be nationally consistent and enables international comparisons. The definition of the Digital Sector is based on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) definition of the ‘information society’. This is a combination of the OECD definition for the ‘ICT Sector’ and the ‘Content and Media Sector’.

To produce our Employment estimates, we only include respondents who are ‘in work’ from the APS dataset for analysis. The APS provides data on an individual level for both a respondent’s first job, and if applicable, a respondent’s second job as separate variables. The APS also includes data on those who have a first or second job but are inactive, for example due to long-term illness. Therefore, in the dataset across these two variables, we define ‘in work’ as those with a first or second job who are categorised as an employee or self-employed. The data presented in this report, and the accompanying Employment dataset, therefore includes both employed and self-employed workers.

As we estimate employment as the number of filled jobs, we restructure the data to be on a per job basis, rather than a per respondent basis. Restructuring by filled jobs means that some respondents may be included in the data tables twice if they have both a first and second job in the Digital Sector. Inclusion of jobs from the same individual more than once makes up less than 1% of the Digital Sector total filled jobs.

After restructuring, we select entries that are relevant for a particular subsector (e.g. all entries with a SIC code of 26.11 to calculate total employment in ‘Manufacture of electronic components’ subsector) and aggregate over the associated population weights to generate an estimate of the total filled jobs. These estimates are then provided for demographic breakdowns.

Demographic breakdowns in the associated data tables provide estimates for employment status (employed/self-employed), International Territorial Level 1 (ITL1) region of work, nationality, sex, ethnicity, age, highest level of education, working pattern (full time/part time), managerial status, socio-economic group (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification), and Equality Act disability status. Data on demographic breakdowns, including the sex of workers, are collected through survey questions. Whilst there are additional breakdowns in the associated data tables combining selected variables with employment status, some of these additional breakdowns have been removed due to low sample sizes.

As part of the production process, we apply disclosure control and quality assurance measures to prevent the identification of any respondents. We suppress values where the number of respondents for a particular demographic breakdown is below a set threshold (below or equal to 3 responses). Where appropriate, we also apply secondary suppression to prevent disclosure via differencing (i.e. being able to calculate the disclosed value from the other values presented).

Proportions provided within the demographic breakdowns in this report are calculated based on the total number of people who answered the relevant question (e.g. the proportion of self-employed people working in the Digital Sector would be calculated by dividing the number of self-employed people by the sum of the number of self-employed and employed and then multiplying by 100).

For more detailed information on the methodology, as well as its limitations, data sources, and quality assurance processes, please see the associated technical and quality assurance report.

We will continue to monitor the reliability of underlying data, review the designation and provide caveats for the Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector series where appropriate in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

5. Change in Employment

5.1 Digital Sector

During the 2024 calendar year, there were a total of approximately 1.77 million filled jobs in the Digital Sector. This represents a decrease of approximately 120,000 filled jobs compared to 2023.

In terms of percentage change, employment in the Digital Sector decreased by 6.3% compared to a 0.2% increase (approximately 63,000 filled jobs) for the UK overall between 2023 to 2024, as shown in Figure 1. The Digital Sector made up approximately 5.2% of filled jobs in the UK overall in 2024, down from 5.6% in 2023.

Figure 1: Percentage change in employment (filled jobs) within the Digital Sector and the UK overall, 2023 to 2024.

As shown in Figure 2, the decrease in Digital Sector filled jobs observed from 2023 to 2024 is the first annual decrease reported in the last 10 years. This follows a plateau in Digital Sector employment growth since 2022. Figure 2 also shows an increase in the size of confidence intervals, particularly since 2019. Table 1 shows that the size of the confidence intervals increased from 100,000 filled jobs in 2019 to 150,000 filled jobs in 2024. This increase in the size of the confidence intervals indicates a decrease in the certainty of employment estimates.

Figure 2: Employment (filled jobs) in the Digital Sector with confidence intervals, UK, 2014 to 2024.

Table 1: Employment (filled jobs) estimates and confidence interval limits shown in Figure 2, millions of filled jobs, UK, 2014 to 2024.

Year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Upper confidence interval	1.44	1.47	1.5	1.55	1.56	1.61	1.77	1.88	1.96	1.98	1.84
Employment estimate	1.39	1.42	1.46	1.5	1.5	1.56	1.7	1.81	1.88	1.89	1.77
Lower confidence interval	1.35	1.38	1.41	1.45	1.45	1.51	1.64	1.74	1.81	1.8	1.69

5.2 Digital Subsectors

The ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ subsector is the largest Digital Subsector constituting 58.4% of Digital Sector filled jobs, as shown in Figure 3. The next largest Digital Subsector is ‘Film, TV, Video, Radio and Music’ at 11.7% of Digital Sector filled jobs in 2024. ‘Telecommunications’, ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ and ‘Manufacturing of Electronics and Computers’ each make up 9.1%, 7.5% and 5.6% of Digital Sector filled jobs respectively. The remaining Digital Subsectors combined make up a total of 7.6% of Digital Sector filled jobs.

Figure 3: Proportion of Digital Sector employment (filled jobs) in the Digital Subsectors, UK, 2024.

While employment in the Digital Sector decreased from 2023 to 2024, it did not decrease equally or for all Digital Subsectors, as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 4 shows that two Digital Subsectors are responsible for the majority of the decline in Digital Sector employment from 2023 to 2024. The largest absolute decrease in employment was approximately 50,000 filled jobs (down 4.6% on 2023) in the ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ subsector. The second largest absolute decrease in employment between 2023 and 2024 was in the ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ subsector at approximately 47,000 filled jobs. This was the largest proportional decrease in employment across Digital Subsectors at 26.2%, as shown in Figure 5. The ‘Telecommunications’ subsector also had a relatively large absolute decrease in employment between 2023 and 2024 at approximately 21,000 filled jobs (down 11.5% on 2023).

Combining the change in employment across these three subsectors sums to a decline of approximately 118,000 filled jobs. This accounts for almost all of the total decline of approximately 120,000 filled jobs observed across the whole Digital Sector, as there was an increase in employment in some Digital Subsectors.   

Figure 4: Absolute change in employment in the Digital Subsectors, thousands of filled jobs, UK, 2023 to 2024.

The ‘Software Publishing’ subsector grew by approximately 8,000 filled jobs (up 22.5%) between 2023 and 2024. This was the largest absolute and proportional increase in employment amongst Digital Subsectors. The ‘Manufacturing of Electronics and Computers’ subsector increased between 2023 and 2024 by approximately 4,000 filled jobs (up 4.5% on 2023). The ‘Repair of Computers and Communication Equipment’ subsector increased between 2023 and 2024 by approximately 1,000 filled jobs (up 3.9% on 2023).

Figure 5: Percentage change in employment (filled jobs) in the Digital Subsectors, UK, 2023 to 2024.

The remaining Digital Subsectors saw a decrease in employment: ‘Film, TV, Video, Radio and Music’ decreased by less than 1,000 filled jobs (down 0.2% on 2023); ‘Information Service Activities’ decreased by approximately 7,000 filled jobs (down 16.7% on 2023); ‘Wholesale of Computers and Electronics’ decreased by approximately 7,000 filled jobs (down 16.7% on 2023).

For further details on how these Digital Subsectors are defined, please see the associated technical and quality assurance report.

6. Demographic Breakdowns

Reporting on demographic breakdowns will focus on the Digital Sector as a whole. This is because many employment estimates for the demographic breakdowns of Digital Subsectors are of low statistical robustness as they rely on small sample sizes. We will therefore only report on notable features or substantial changes in Digital Subsectors which are based on estimates of acceptable statistical robustness or higher. This is defined by a coefficient of variation of 20% or lower. Similar to the standard error, the closer the coefficient of variation is to zero, the more precise the estimate is. Users can see the associated data tables for demographic breakdowns of all Digital Subsectors along with the coefficient of variation measure of statistical robustness.

6.1 Disability and Sex 

According to 2024 estimates, the proportion of filled jobs held by both disabled workers and female workers within the Digital Sector continued to be smaller than for the UK overall, as shown in Figure 5.

In 2024, the proportion of filled jobs held by disabled workers in the Digital Sector was at 15.1% (approximately 265,000 filled jobs) compared to 18.4% of employment in the UK overall (approximately 6.20 million filled jobs). This represents an increase in the proportion of filled jobs held by disabled workers working in the Digital Sector, from 13.7% in 2023 (approximately 256,000 filled jobs).

Additionally, in 2024, the proportion of filled jobs held by female workers in the Digital Sector was at 28.5% (approximately 504,000 filled jobs) compared to 48.1% in the UK overall (approximately 16.39 million filled jobs). This represents a marginal decrease in the proportion of filled jobs held by female workers in the Digital Sector, down from 29.1% in 2023 (approximately 550,000 filled jobs).

It is important to note that changes in the proportion of filled jobs held by disabled workers and female workers is in the context of an overall decrease in Digital Sector employment, as discussed in Section 5.1.

Figure 6: Proportion of filled jobs in the Digital Sector and UK overall, by Equality Act disabled workers (left) and female workers (right), UK, 2024.

The ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ sector remains the only Digital Subsector with a higher proportion of filled jobs held by female workers than the UK overall at 59.7% compared to 48.1% for the UK overall. This was an increase of 7.8 percentage points from 2023 to 2024 despite a decrease in the number of filled jobs held by female workers of approximately 14,000.

6.2 Ethnicity

In 2024, the proportion of filled jobs held by people from the Asian or Asian British ethnic group in the Digital Sector was proportionally greater than in the UK overall, as seen in Figure 6. The proportion of filled jobs in the Digital Sector held by people in the Asian or Asian British ethnic group was 12.9% (approximately 228,000 filled jobs) compared to 8.0% for the UK overall (approximately 2.73 million filled jobs).

Conversely, the proportion of filled jobs held by people from the White ethnic group in the Digital Sector was proportionally lower than in the UK overall, as seen in Figure 7. The proportion of filled jobs held by the White ethnic group was 79.9% (approximately 1.4 million filled jobs) compared to 84.1% in the UK overall (approximately 28.63 million filled jobs).

Figure 7: Proportion of employment (filled jobs) held by different ethnic groups, within the Digital Sector and UK overall, 2024.

There were small changes in the proportion of jobs held by different ethnicities in the Digital Sector from 2023 to 2024. The largest increase in proportion from 2023 to 2024 was a 1.9 percentage point increase in the proportion of filled jobs held by people from the Asian or Asian British ethnic group (approximately 21,000 filled jobs) compared to a 0.1 percentage point increase in the UK overall (approximately 39,000 filled jobs). The largest decrease in proportion from 2023 to 2024 was a 1.7 percentage point decrease in the number of filled jobs held by people from the White ethnic group (approximately 126,000 filled jobs) compared to a 0.9 percentage point decrease in the UK overall (approximately 258,000 filled jobs).

6.3 Age

The proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 in the Digital Sector in 2024 was 5.7%. This is lower than the 10.6% proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 in the UK overall in 2024.

From 2023 to 2024 the number of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 in the Digital Sector decreased by approximately 66,000 filled jobs (down 39.6% on 2023). This is compared to a decrease in the UK overall of approximately 168,000 filled jobs (down 4.4% on 2023), as shown in Figure 8.

Age groups have been summed to analyse changes in the number of filled jobs held by people aged 25-54 and people aged 55 +. The number of filled jobs held by people aged 25-54 in the Digital Sector decreased by approximately 65,000 filled jobs (down 4.4% on 2023) compared to an increase in the UK overall of approximately 79,000 filled jobs (up 0.3% on 2023). The number of filled jobs held by people aged 55 + in the Digital Sector increased by approximately 11,000 filled jobs (up 4.3% on 2023) compared to an increase in the UK overall of approximately 152,000 filled jobs (up 2.1% on 2023).

These changes have resulted in a 3.1 percentage point decrease in the proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 in the Digital Sector from 8.8% in 2023 to 5.7% in 2024. This is compared to a 0.5 percentage point decrease in the proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 in the UK overall from 11.1% in 2023 to 10.6% in 2024.

Figure 8: Percentage change in employment (filled jobs) for people aged under 25 (left), people aged 25-54 (middle) and 55 + (right), within the Digital Sector and UK overall, 2023 to 2024.

There was a small sample size for the 16-24 age group of the ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ subsector. However, the number of filled jobs held by people aged 16-39 decreased by approximately 38,000 filled jobs (down 42.4% on 2023) for the ‘Publishing (excluding translation and interpretation activities)’ subsector. This was the biggest decline in the proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-39 of 11.1 percentage points from 50.4% in 2023 to 39.3% in 2024 amongst Digital Subsectors. This subsector also saw the biggest decline in the number of filled jobs held by people aged 25-54 at 40,000 (down 28.7% on 2023).

The ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ subsector had the biggest decline in the number of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 at approximately 39,000 filled jobs (down 44.1% on 2023). This subsector saw a decline in the proportion of filled jobs held by people aged 16-24 of 3.4 percentage points (after rounding) from 8.1% in 2023 to 4.8% in 2024. This subsector also saw the second biggest decline in the number of filled jobs held by people aged 25-54 at 17,000 (down 2.0% on 2023).

Further demographic information on filled jobs in the Digital Sector can be found in the published tables, including breakdowns by ITL1 region of work, age, nationality, highest level of education, and working pattern (full-time or part-time). However, many of the estimates for these demographic breaks have low levels of statistical robustness due to low sample sizes. Users can review coefficient of variation data in associated data tables information on statistical robustness of demographic breakdowns.

7. References

Annual Population Survey (APS) QMI, Office for National Statistics, Last Updated: 14 September 2012

Code of Practice for Statistics, UK Statistics Authority / Office for Statistics Regulation, Last Updated: 5 May 2022

DCMS and Digital Sectors Economic Estimates, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Last Updated: 13 June 2024

DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates National Statistics Accreditation, Office for Statistics Regulation, Last Updated: 23 November 2020

Economic Estimates: Employment in DCMS sectors and Digital sector, January 2022 to December 2022, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Last Updated: 28 July 2023

Economic Estimates: Employment and Earnings in the Digital Sector, January 2023 to December 2023, January 2023 to December 2023, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Last Updated: 11 July 2024

OECD Guide to Measuring the Information Society 2011, The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Published: 26 July 2011, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264113541-en

Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, UK Government, Published: 26 July 2007

UK SIC 2007, Office for National Statistics, Last Updated: 24 January 2024