Occupation and Qualifications: Rural-Urban Analysis

• Economic Factsheet - Occupation and Qualifications: Rural-Urban Analysis
  Download this factsheet as a PDF

This briefing looks in detail at the theme of qualifications and occupation in Somerset using the 2011 Census data to give a snapshot. Each table is broken down into urban and rural figures, based upon the ONS classification of output areas.

• Somerset has a lower proportion of workers qualified to Level 4 or above compared to England overall (25.6% vs 27.4%). Within the County, urban areas and the rural town and fringe areas have lower levels of highly qualified workers than the County level. In rural hamlets and isolated areas, 33.8% of residents aged 16+ are highly qualified.

• The largest occupation groups in Somerset are skilled trades (15.1%) and professionals (14.7%).
• Senior managers and directors are most concentrated in the rural areas of the County, with the highest proportion in rural hamlets and isolated areas (15.5%).
• Somerset’s urban areas have high levels of people employed in admin and secretarial, caring, sales and customer service, plant and machinery and elementary occupations.
• The largest occupation group for men in Somerset is skilled trades (25%) whereas the largest group of women (19%) are employed in caring, leisure and other service occupations.