R_IND_AG = (IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag * 100.0) / INDUSTRY_TOT:total
| Data Role | Period Covered | Authority | Source | Details | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1841 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1841 Census of Great Britain, Occupations, Table [1] , 'Occupation Abstract' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1861 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1861 Census of England and Wales, Ages, Table 17 , 'Occupations of Males aged 20 Years and upwards in Districts' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1881 | GBHGIS | Great Britain Historical GIS Project | Great Britain Historical GIS Project Computed from 1881 microdata | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1911 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1911 Census of England and Wales, Occupations Vol 1, Table 15 A, 'Grouped occupations of Males and Females aged 10 years and upwards, in Administrative Counties, County Boroughs, Metropolitan Boroughs, Urban Districts of which the population exceeded 5,000 persons, aggregates of other Urban Districts, and aggregates of Rural Districts; also proportion per 1,000 of unmarried, married, widowed, and of married and widowed women engaged in occupations, and proportion of female domestic servants to separate occupiers or families, 1911 - Males' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1931 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1931 Census of England and Wales, Industry, Table 3 , 'Industries (condensed list) of Males and Females (exclusive of persons out of work)' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1951 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1951 Census of England and Wales, Industry, Table 3 , 'Industries (Orders and Selected Units) and Status Aggregates. Occupied Males and Females aged 15 and over', for 'Urban Areas with population of less than 50,000, RD, NT' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1971 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1971 Census of England and Wales, Economic activity County Leaflets, Table 3 , 'Industry and status by area of workplace and sex', for 'County, county boroughs, urban areas with populations of 50,000 or more, conurbation centres' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1991 | CEN | Census of Population | Census of Population | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2001 | NOMIS | NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics | Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table UV034, Industry (17 way)) | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2011 | NOMIS | NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics | Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table KS605UK - Industry) | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2021 | ONS_CustomData | ONS "Create a Custom Dataset" | Office for National Statistics, ONS "Create a Custom Dataset" ("Industry (current)" (19 way)) | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
Today agriculture (including fishing) is a tiny sector, employing under 2% of the workforce.
Even in 1841 it employed only 20% of workers.
Employment in the sector dropped as a proportion of all workers to 12% in 1881 and 5% in 1951,
but the actual numbers fell much more slowly, from 1.2m in 1841 to 1m. in 1951.
Mechanisation of farms in the 1950s and 1960s led to a much more rapid decline,
so there were only about half a million workers left in 1971.
Over this period the geographical distribution of agricultural workers changed little.
It only changed in the late 20th century as agriculture became less important and
some of these areas saw rapid population growth to support other industries.