Working and workless households, UK
Official statistics
The share of UK households with at least one person aged 16 to 64 in which no adult works, with the working and mixed households beside them, each April to June since 1996, from the ONS's Labour Force Survey household tables (Table A).
Households where no adult works
14.36%
Apr–Jun 2026 · April to June, households with at least one person aged 16 to 64; 3,160,981 households
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:26 UTC- Workless households
- Working households
- Mixed households
Source: Office for National Statistics. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
31 periods, newest first
| Period | Workless households | Working households | Mixed households |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 14.36% | 59.75% | 25.90% |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 13.85% | 59.33% | 26.82% |
| Apr–Jun 2024 | 14.20% | 58.46% | 27.34% |
| Apr–Jun 2023 | 13.65% | 59.13% | 27.21% |
| Apr–Jun 2022 | 14.07% | 58.81% | 27.12% |
| Apr–Jun 2021 | 14.05% | 58.02% | 27.93% |
| Apr–Jun 2020 | 13.63% | 58.90% | 27.47% |
| Apr–Jun 2019 | 13.64% | 59.67% | 26.70% |
| Apr–Jun 2018 | 14.34% | 58.56% | 27.11% |
| Apr–Jun 2017 | 14.53% | 57.83% | 27.64% |
| Apr–Jun 2016 | 14.95% | 57.00% | 28.05% |
| Apr–Jun 2015 | 15.80% | 55.89% | 28.32% |
| Apr–Jun 2014 | 15.95% | 55.32% | 28.73% |
| Apr–Jun 2013 | 17.29% | 53.80% | 28.90% |
| Apr–Jun 2012 | 17.99% | 52.87% | 29.13% |
| Apr–Jun 2011 | 18.77% | 53.25% | 27.98% |
| Apr–Jun 2010 | 19.19% | 53.01% | 27.80% |
| Apr–Jun 2009 | 18.52% | 53.89% | 27.59% |
| Apr–Jun 2008 | 17.43% | 56.10% | 26.46% |
| Apr–Jun 2007 | 17.48% | 56.09% | 26.43% |
| Apr–Jun 2006 | 17.31% | 56.19% | 26.50% |
| Apr–Jun 2005 | 17.86% | 56.34% | 25.80% |
| Apr–Jun 2004 | 17.75% | 56.23% | 26.02% |
| Apr–Jun 2003 | 17.86% | 56.09% | 26.06% |
| Apr–Jun 2002 | 18.37% | 55.99% | 25.64% |
| Apr–Jun 2001 | 18.46% | 55.97% | 25.57% |
| Apr–Jun 2000 | 18.49% | 55.69% | 25.82% |
| Apr–Jun 1999 | 18.96% | 54.56% | 26.48% |
| Apr–Jun 1998 | 19.59% | 53.82% | 26.59% |
| Apr–Jun 1997 | 19.77% | 53.23% | 27.00% |
| Apr–Jun 1996 | 20.85% | 51.73% | 27.42% |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Office for National Statistics
- Check it yourself
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/workingandworklesshouseholdstableahouseholdsbycombinedeconomicactivitystatusofhouseholdmembers
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 9 November 2026, 15:02 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/workingandworklesshouseholdstableahouseholdsbycombinedeconomicactivitystatusofhouseholdmembers/dataSHA-256 26108d0c057868bcf84ce66c2960b19966ead3bb682da3f9f92befae90881b31 · 1,321 bytes
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/workingandworklesshouseholdstableahouseholdsbycombinedeconomicactivitystatusofhouseholdmembers/current/dataSHA-256 23bd5e2fb56dda464433744858573cfe58588efa9ebd351f4f949d623cbc05a9 · 12,833 bytes
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/workingandworklesshouseholdstableahouseholdsbycombinedeconomicactivitystatusofhouseholdmembers/current/tablea.xlsxSHA-256 aeba889a12bfdbc37d72b656de51e4580a36d5398f62fed2d10ac9f4acb2c87c · 45,712 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:26 UTC Run at 9 November 2026, 15:26 UTC; 93 of 93 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Office for National Statistics; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-09T15:02:18Z; 3 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 3 of 3 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 93 of 93 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's levels match |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 93 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 93 of 93 figures match exactly after downloading 3 source file(s) again (3 byte-identical); the headline matches; the meta's levels match |
| Pass | ONS edition is current | the current edition counts at 2026-06-30, 132 days before retrieval (limit 200) |
| Pass | The levels give the same shares | 93 of 93 cases of the record's shares are the table of levels' households of each kind over all households within 1e-06 (93 exactly) |
| Pass | The households add up | 76 of 76 cases of the quarters' working, mixed and workless households make all households within 1 (76 exactly) |
| Pass | Each kind of household is its parts | 152 of 152 cases of the quarters' mixed and workless households are their three parts each within 1 (152 exactly) |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/workingandworklesshouseholdstableahouseholdsbycombinedeconomicactivitystatusofhouseholdmembers – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Households with at least one person aged 16 to 64, as the ONS counts them in the Labour Force Survey: a working household is one where every adult of 16 and over is in work, a workless household one where none is, and a mixed household one with some of each.
- The ONS's household estimates are not seasonally adjusted, so the hub compares April to June each year only; the table's other quarters are left out. They are not weighted in line with the Labour Force Survey's latest headline measures, and the ONS cautions that the survey's sample changes from 2023 and 2024 affect them.
- Shares are the ONS's own, unrounded, from its table of percentages; the levels (meta) are its estimates of the number of households, from the table of levels.