Gender

More than 4.7 million Londoners – 65.7% of the adult population – were in work of some kind in the year to September 2023. This is higher than the 60.4% of adults who are employed in the rest of England. 

Nearly one third of adults in London are classed as economically inactive (31%) - which means they are not employed, and not looking for a job or able to start work. There are many reasons someone might be economically inactive, such as  because they are too ill to work, retired, or a student.

Labour market activity by sex

There are over 296,500 more men in work in London than women. Men who live in London are also more likely to be self-employed than women – 14.2% compared to 7.8%. 

Women are significantly more likely to be economically inactive than men, with 38.6% of women not working compared to 29.9% of men. For many types of inactivit…

This indicator shows overall life expectancy at birth in each London borough.

Overall life expectancy is consistently higher for women than for men across all London boroughs (2020-2022). The highest life expectancy for women is in Kensington and Chelsea (86.3 years), and in Richmond upon Thames for men (82.4).

The lowest life expectancy for both men and women is in Barking and Dagenham - 76.3 years and 80.4 years respectively.

Healthy life expectancy

Healthy life expectancy is the number of years a person can expect to live in good health rather than with a disability or in poor health.

Although women have a higher life expectancy than men in every borough, in some boroughs men have a longer healthy life expectancy. For example, in Tower Hamlets a man can expect to live 65.3 years in good health, compared to 57.8 years for a woman.

Albeit rec…

This page looks at jobs held by London residents that are paid below the London Living Wage broken down by:

• employment type (full-time and part-time)
• sex
• sex and employment type
• ethnicity
• disability
• qualification level
• employment status (permanent and non-permanent)

These jobs may be located within London or outside the capital. For a similar analysis focused on jobs located in London only, please see 'Low-paid jobs in London'.

The London Living Wage was introduced in 2005. It is a voluntary wage rate based on the amount of money that people need to live. The rate in London in April 2023 when the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings we use for this analysis was conducted was £11.95.

The proportion of low-paid jobs held by Londoners has increased slightly in 2023 (16.4%) compared to 2022 (16.2%); this follows a steady decline since 2018 th…

This page looks at jobs held by borough residents that are paid below the London Living Wage. For jobs located in boroughs, please see 'Low-paid jobs in London', chart four.

The London Living Wage was introduced in 2005. It is a voluntary wage rate based on the amount of money that people need to live. The rate in London in April 2023 when the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings we use for this analysis was conducted was £11.95.

Barking and Dagenham had the highest proportion of residents who were low paid (24.6%) in 2023 followed by Brent (23.3%) and Enfield (22.8%). By contrast Wandsworth (9.7%), Hammersmith and Fulham (9.9%) and Kensington and Chelsea (10%) has the lowest proportion.

Barking and Dagenham also had a significant increase compared to 2022 in the proportion of low-paid residents of 5 percentage points, closely fol…

The number of people sleeping rough in London more than tripled between 2008/09 and 2020/21 from around 3,472 to 11,018. 2021/22 saw the number fall back somewhat to 8,329 but it increased again in 2022/23 to 10,053.

Most people sleeping rough are white, although across the time series the number of BAME people sleeping rough has risen faster than the number of white people. Of the people whose country/continent of origin is known, just under half are British citizens, with people from the rest of Europe making up most of the rest. A large majority (83%) of people sleeping rough in London are men.

More people sleep rough in Central London than in any other part of the capital. This is consistently the case, but the proportion of people sleeping rough who do so in Central London reducing over the 15 year period from more than three quarters…

Poverty rates vary significantly across different demographic groups in London. The highest poverty rates are experienced by workless families (52%) and households comprised of single people with children (47%). Black and minority ethnic groups are far more likely to be in poverty (33%) than white people (18%), and single pensioners also see a higher than average poverty rate at 30%.

Generally speaking all the groups included here have seen declining poverty rates since 2018/19 (the peak of the overall time series) apart from single pensioners, couples without children and workless families.

The unemployment rate in London more than halved since its post-financial crisis peak in 2011 (10.1%) to 4.8% in 2023. 2021 saw it increase substantially to 6%, reaching levels not seen since 2015. This increase is likely the result of the slowdown of the economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other factors, such as those put on furlough and the change in inactivity within the labour market, should also be considered. Unemployment rates have decreased since, to 4.8% in 2023.

Over the past three decades, the gender split of unemployment has become more even overall. In 1993 the unemployment rate was more than 40% higher for men compared to women, but by the early 2010s the numbers were broadly similar for both genders. Since 2011, the unemployment rate fell for both women (from 10.5% to 4.6% in 2019) and men (from 9.9% to 4.7% in 2019).

H…

Just over 5% of people in work in London are on temporary contracts. Temporary contracts are more prevalent amongst women in work than men: 30% more women than men were on a temporary contract in 2022 (Q2).

The proportion of workers on temporary contracts has remained relatively consistent over the past decade, fluctuating between just over 4.5% and just under 6% of all workers. In 2022 (Q2), 0.84% of women in work and 0.66% of men in work were on a temporary contract and reported that it was because they could not find a permanent job

Just under two-thirds (63%) of working-age women in London who were born in Bangladesh did not work in the year to March 2021/22, the highest rate of any nationality. Pakistani women are not far behind with 61% not working. Of men in London who were born overseas, those from China have the highest rate of worklessness (28%).

Women originally from Portugal had the lowest rates of worklessness (2%), while those from Sri Lanka had the lowest rate for men (9%). For most countries, the worklessness rate is higher for women than men, although this trend does not hold true for countries such as Lithuania, Portugal, France, Romania, Poland and Italy.