England Country (Dep) : NS Socio-economic Classification (4-way)

NS Socio-economic Classification (4-way)

Data cube chart.

Year Higher managerial, administrative & professional occupations Intermediate occupations Routine & manual occupations Never worked & long-term unemployed
1841 694,719 Show data context 2,747,987 Show data context 1,998,490 Show data context
1881 2,823,493 Show data context 9,597,373 Show data context 5,890,445 Show data context
1931 2,396,111 Show data context 9,801,684 Show data context 5,577,576 Show data context
1971 988,845 Show data context 684,343 Show data context 580,982 Show data context 343,563 Show data context
1981 1,111,198 Show data context 627,208 Show data context 581,203 Show data context 265,829 Show data context
1991 1,172,613 Show data context 427,182 Show data context 510,151 Show data context 60,557 Show data context
2001 9,717,716 Show data context 5,844,694 Show data context 9,870,442 Show data context 3,822,941 Show data context
2011 20,310,037 Show data context 8,634,655 Show data context 12,384,464 Show data context 5,684,325 Show data context
2021 15,264,742 Show data context 10,128,692 Show data context 13,166,795 Show data context 7,446,167 Show data context
Date Source
1841 [ERROR: authority is ''SRC'' but auth_note value of does not appear in SRC_TAB]
1881 Great Britain Historical GIS Project Computed from 1881 microdata
1931 1931 Census of England and Wales, Occupations, Table 17 , 'Occupations (condensed list) of Males and Females, showing also the total Operatives and the total Out of Work'
1971 UK Data Service, Census 1971 data (Table SAS23: "SEG and economic position (10% Sample): Economically Active residents")
1981 UK Data Service, Census 1981 data (SAS50: "Socio-Economic group and economic positions (10% Sample): Economically active residents")
1991 Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table S92 "SEG and economic position (10% sample): Economically active residents)
2001 Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table UV031, NS-Sec (21 way))
2011 Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table QS607UK - NS-SeC)
2021 Office for National Statistics, ONS "Create a Custom Dataset" (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (17 way))

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nCube definition


Here we simplify the National Statistics Socio-economic Classfication into just four analytic categories, which we try to present over a very long period. Note that up to 1991 the census focused on levels of "skill", and on whether work was "manual", but since 2001 the focus has instead been on whether work was "routine", making comparisons difficult.


How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, England Country (Dep) through time | Historical Statistics on Social Structure | NS Socio-economic Classification (4-way), A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10061325/cube/NS_SEC_4WAY

Date accessed: 09th April 2026