44.3%
managerial, professional, associate professional and technical
% of North East employment
Oct 22-Sep 23
England excl. London: 50.0%
20.2%
administrative, secretarial and skilled trades
% of North East employment
Oct 22-Sep 23
England excl. London: 18.9%
18.0%
caring, leisure, sales, customer services, other services
% of North East employment
Oct 22-Sep 23
England excl. London: 15.2%
17.5%
process, plant and machine operatives, elementary occupations
% of North East employment
Oct 22-Sep 23
England excl. London: 15.9%
Key North East occupations
- Out of the 25 occupational sub groups, the four with the largest North East employment totals are:
- elementary administration and service occupations (e.g. catering assistants, cleaners and waiting staff)
- administrative occupations (e.g. finance and payroll administrators, Government administrators and sales administrators)
- business and public service associate professionals (e.g. financial advisers, civil service associate professionals and estate agents)
- caring personal service occupations (e.g. carers, nursing assistants and teaching assistants)
- together, these account for just over a third of employment.
North East specialisms
- Comparing the proportions of employment, the following occupation sub groups are particularly important to the North East labour market when compared to England excluding London:
- sales occupations (e.g. retail assistants, merchandisers, sales supervisors)
- skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades (e.g. electricians, vehicle mechanics and metal working fitters)
- administrative occupations (e.g. finance and payroll administrators, Government administrators and sales administrators)
- elementary administration and service occupations (e.g. catering assistants, cleaners and waiting staff)
- science, engineering and technology associate professionals (e.g. laboratory technicians, draughtspersons and IT user support technicians).
Recent trends
+11,200
managerial, professional, associate professional and technical
North East employment change
year to Oct 22-Sep 23
-5,100
administrative, secretarial and skilled trades
North East employment change
year to Oct 22-Sep 23
+10,200
caring, leisure, sales, customer services, other services
North East employment change
year to Oct 22-Sep 23
-10,600
process, plant and machine operatives, elementary occupations
North East employment change
year to Oct 22-Sep 23
In the latest year
- Among the 25 occupational sub groups, the largest increases in North East employment in the year to Oct 22-Sep 23 have been in:
- science, research, engineering and technology professional occupations
- business and public service associate professional occupations
- culture, media and sports occupations
- protective service occupations
- the largest decreases in employment have been in:
- elementary administration and service occupations
- skilled construction and building trades occupations
- business, media and public service professional occupations
- process, plant and machine operative occupations.
Since the pre-Covid period
- Since Oct 18-Sep 19, the largest increases in North East employment have been in:
- business & public service associate professional occupations
- administrative occupations
- sales occupations
- science, research, engineering and technology professional occupations
- over this longer time series the largest decreases in North East employment have been in:
- skilled construction and building trades occupations
- process, plant and machines operatives
- customer service occupations
- elementary administration and service occupations.
Additional detail
Female and male workers
- In Oct 22-Sep 23, in the North East:
- Female and male workers were both more likely to be working in professional occupations than in any of the other eight occupation groups
- female workers were much more likely to be in administrative and secretarial occupations; in caring, leisure and related services; or in sales and customer services
- these occupation groups made up 43% of female employment, compared to 14% of male employment
- male workers were much more likely to be working in skilled trades; as process, plant and machine operatives; or as managers, directors and senior officials
- these occupation groups made up 39% of male employment, compared to 10% of female employment.
Employment within the North East
- In Oct 22-Sep 23 in the North East, among the seven local authority areas:
- Almost half of employment was in County Durham (26%) and Newcastle (23%)
- Newcastle had the highest employment in managerial, professional, associate professional and technical occupations; and in caring, leisure, sales, customer and related service occupations
- County Durham had the highest employment in administrative, secretarial and skilled trades occupations; and as process, plant and machine operatives or in elementary occupations.
Local employment patterns
- Among the seven North East local authority areas in the Oct 22-Sep 23 period:
- North Tyneside had the highest percentage of workers in managerial, professional, associate professional and technical occupations, with County Durham having the lowest
- Sunderland had the highest percentage of workers in administrative, secretarial and skilled trades occupations, with Newcastle having the lowest
- Newcastle had the highest percentage of workers in caring, leisure, sales, customer and service occupations, with North Tyneside having the lowest
- County Durham had the highest percentage of workers who were process, plant and machine operatives or worked in elementary occupations, with North Tyneside having the lowest.
About occupational employment data
The Office for National Statistics uses the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) to provide data about how employment is broken down by occupation. The data on this page is based on responses from workers rather than businesses.
At a local level, statistics are available for nine groups and 25 subgroups, with the former being more robust for smaller areas. The data is available on a workplace and residence basis, with the charts on this page using the former to provide information about employment within the North East rather than among North East residents.
This page uses the SOC 2010 classification rather than the newer SOC 2020. The former provides longer time series data and there have been also some issues with statistics based on the latter.
Employment totals do not include unfilled vacancies. Hence some decreasing employment totals for occupations may reflect a fall in the number of posts while others may highlight recruitment difficulties.
