UK Business Information - Workforce Skills - London- Locations For Business

London

Due to London's prominence as a world business location, its workforce is incredibly diverse. People from all over the world come to study, work and live in London, giving the UK capital a highly skilled workforce.

37.4% of London's population have achieved NVQ level 4 or above.

The table below shows how London's population divides between the main industry sectors, and how the figures have changed over the last few years.

EMPLOYMENT JOBS BY INDUSTRY (thousands):

	All jobs	Agriculture Forestry & Fishing	Mining Energy & Water Supplies Industries	Manufacturing Industries	Construction	Distribution etc, transport etc, finance & business services	Education, health, public admin & other services
Dec 08	4,063	8	13	178	119	2,548	1,197
Mar 09	4,013	10	13	173	139	2,481	1,198
Jun 09	3,987	8	13	172	135	2,465	1,195
Sep 09	3,969	13	13	170	125	2,456	1,192
Dec 09	4,000	4	13	170	140	2,473	1,200

NB: Original data taken from ONS - Labour Market Statistics

As the table shows, London's workforce is primarily employed in the service industry. London has high levels of specialisation in many business services, such as information and communication technologies, accountancy, creative industries, legal and consulting services and recruitment.

The data below gives a further breakdown of the major industries. This is particularly useful when trying to ascertain the make-up of workforce skills for broad sectors such as business services. The graph also shows where each industry's workforce is geographically located. ie. inner or outer London.

EMPLOYEES IN LONDON BY SECTOR - 2008:

SECTOR	NO.	INNER %	OUTER %
Health and social work	390,400	58	42
Retail excluding motor vehicles	378,200	49	51
Financial intermediation	331,800	86	14
Transport, storage and communication	307,000	42	58
Education	309,600	46	54
Hotels and restaurants	303,000	62	38
Other community, social and personal service activities	300,300	61	39
Public administration and defence	223,500	58	42
Other business services not elsewhere in table	205,600	60	40
Manufacturing	178,000	46	54
Labour recruitment and provision of personnel	170,700	62	38
Wholesale	151,500	40	60
Construction	122,500	35	65
Computer and related activities	129,600	62	38
Industrial cleaning	110,200	48	52
Business and management consultancy activities	100,200	71	29
Real estate activities	109,700	66	34
Legal activities	86,000	85	15
Accounting and related activities	62,000	67	33
Architectural, engineering and related activities	69,800	67	33
Sale and repair of motor vehicles, and related activities	41,300	23	77
Advertising	37,700	81	19
Renting of machinery and equipment	16,700	29	71
Research and development	18,800	71	29
Agriculture, fishing, mining and utilities	14,700	57	43
Total	4,168,500	57	43

Original data compiled by ABI for the London Development Agency.

The concentration of legal, financial and other business service skills in central London is unique, a direct reflection of the fact London is the legal, financial and business capital of the UK.

Over 500,000 people are employed in the creative industries in London, vastly more than any other region in the UK. London and the South East account for 54% of those employed in the creative industries.

Tourism is another area where London shows a far higher concentration of workforce skills. 250,000 people are employed in tourism in London, the number a direct reflection of the disproportionate amount of tourists London enjoys each year compared to the rest of the UK.

The make-up of workforce skills in outer London, the abundance of health and public sector employees parallels with the rest of the UK more closely. Health and social work, retail and public administration account for over 600,000 jobs and are a major source of employment in outer London.

Over 600,000 people in London are self-employed.

UK Business Information / London

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