Census 2021: labour market and travel to work

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have published further results from the 2021 Census, helping us to better our understanding of the Somerset population. The latest results reveal insights into the labour market in Somerset and travel to work behaviours.

It should be remembered that the 2021 Census is a snapshot of the population on 21^st March 2021, a time during which coronavirus restrictions were in place. These restrictions will likely have impacted on living arrangements for certain groups – such as university students – and will therefore have an impact on the census results.

Economic activity status

There were 269,045 Somerset residents in employment on census day in 2021. This represents 56.6% of the population aged 16 and over. Of those Somerset residents in employment, around 1 in 5 were self-employed.

Nearly 11,000 Somerset residents were economically active but currently unemployed at the time of the census, whilst over 195,000 Somerset residents over the age of 16 reported being economically inactive, with the majority of those being retired.

The number of Somerset residents who are retired has more than doubled since 2011, reflecting the ageing nature of the Somerset population. There are now over 134,000 retirees in Somerset, representing 28% of the population aged 16 and over. Conversely, the proportion of the Somerset population who are economically active has decreased significantly since 2011, from 70.8% to 58.9% in 2021.

The number of full-time students in Somerset has dropped over the past 10 years, from 23,154 in 2011 to 22,113 in 2021. It had been thought that coronavirus restrictions in 2021 might have resulted in a higher number of university students studying remotely whilst living at their family home in Somerset, however these numbers may suggest that this was not a significant trend. 

Numbers of economically inactive long-term sick and disabled residents have increased to 17,392 in 2021, although proportionally are broadly unchanged.

Travel to work

More than 1 in 4 Somerset residents who were in employment at the time of the 2021 census were working from home as their main place of work. At the time of the census, the government advice was for people to work from home where possible, and to avoid public transport.

Due to the unique circumstances at the time of the census it is difficult to make comparisons with previous census results, however the 2011 figure of 14% home working gives an indication of what might have been a ‘normal’ figure before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of those who were travelling to a place of work, 78.5% were travelling by car or van. Only 2.1% were travelling by public transport, with 17% either walking or cycling. It is difficult to determine the impact of the government advice around avoiding public transport on these figures. For comparison, the proportion of residents traveling to work by public transport in 2011 was 2.8%. We might have expected to see a lower proportion of commuters using public transport in 2021 compared to 2011 irrespective of COVID-19, due to cuts to the public transport network as a result of austerity.

Industry of employment

Wholesale and retail trade is the most common industry of employment for Somerset residents, although numbers working in this industry have decreased since 2011. The industry accounts for 16.2% of the Somerset workforce, with a total of 43,613 people working in the industry. In 2011 there were over 45,000 people working in the industry, accounting for 17.6% of the Somerset workforce.

The industry which has seen the biggest increase in numbers of workers in Somerset since 2011 is human health and social work. There are over 7,000 more Somerset residents working in this industry in 2021 than there were in 2011, with it now accounting for 15.2% of the Somerset workforce.

The most significant decrease since 2011 has been in numbers working in manufacturing. There were 29,124 Somerset residents working in this industry in 2011, accounting for 11.3% of the Somerset workforce. In 2021 this has decreased to 24,986 workers, or 9.3% of the Somerset workforce.