BRITISH PROFESSIONS TODAY: THE STATE OF ... - Property Week

3.5 Employment
A considerable portion of the professions’ contributions to
the UK economy is represented by the opportunities they
create for employment.
The professional sector is the largest employer in the
UK, with 11.5% of total employment (IER 2006/SSDA Sector
Skills Matrix 2008). Total employment stands at 3,465,000
(Ibid.). By comparison, the second largest employer is the
Percentage of total UK employment
by sector
14
12
10
8
6
4
6.2 6.5 6.9 8.1
10.4 10.7 11.5
5.1
2
3.9 4.2 4.3
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.8 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.6
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
health and social work sector, making up 10.7% of total UK
employment (IER 2006/SSDA Sector Skills Matrix 2008).
The professions have been a growing industry with 2.5%
average annual past employment growth 1999-2004. The
workforce has been projected to grow at an average rate of
1.6% per annum 2004-2009, compared to workforce growth
of 0.4% over the whole economy. Strong employment
growth in the sector has been a trend across Europe, with
the professions boasting the highest annual average growth
of employment (4.0%) in services in the EU27 from 2002
to 2007 (Eurostat 2008).
3.6 UK professions in Europe
Professions comprise 3.9 million enterprises in Europe,
together generating EUR 739.6 billion of value added and
employing 19.4 million persons in 2004 (Eurostat 2008).
The UK was by far the largest contributor to the EU27’s
professional sector in 2004, with EUR 203.5 billion of value
added. It generated 27.5% of the EU27’s sectoral value added
and employed 19.5% of its workforce. The UK is the most
professionally specialised Member State, with professions
contributing 21.1% of non-financial business economy
value added, compared with the EU27’s average of 14.5%
(Eurostat 2007).
1 Mining and quarrying
2 Electricity, gas, water supply
3 Textiles and textile products
4 Wood, pulp and paper products
5 Furniture, jewellery, musical
instruments, sports goods,
games and toys; recycling
6 Transport equipment
7 Publishing, printing and reproduction
of recorded media
8 Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing
9 Food, drink and tobacco
10 Basic metals and fabricated
metal products
11 Post and telecommunications
12 Computer and related activities
13 Coke, petrol, nuclear fuel,
chemicals, rubber, plastics, glass,
ceramics and cement
14 Sale, maintenance and repair
of motor vehicles; fuel retail
15 Machinery, electrical and optical
equipment
16 Real estate, renting and research
and development
17 Financial services
18 Wholesale trade
19 Transport
20 Public admin and defence;
compulsory social security
21 Community, social, personal
service activities
22 Hotels and restaurants
23 Construction
24 Education
25 Retail trade
26 Health and social work
27 Law, accounting, architecture
and other business activities
British Professions Today: The State of the Sector © Spada Limited 2009 23