Using Labour Force Surveys to Investigate the Employment Characteristics of UK Tourism Industries

Transcription

1 11 th Global Forum on Tourism Statistics Using Labour Force Surveys to Investigate the Employment Characteristics of UK Tourism Industries Eddie Smith and Sean White Tourism Intelligence Unit, Office for National Statistics, UK

2 Outline of Presentation Introduction to the issues The Labour Force Survey and other sources Employment characteristics of Tourism Industries Regional Variation in tourism employment in the UK Characteristics of those employed in Tourism Industries

3 Purpose of the Paper Highlight the utility of Labour Force Surveys for informing the tourism policy agenda, including: Characteristics of tourism employment Regional variations in tourism employment Characteristics of those employed in tourism Other Sources such as Business Surveys and Business Registers are available and there are advantages and disadvantages to both

4 Labour Force Surveys Advantages Large range of variables includes self-employment Large sample size sub-national analysis is possible Continuous consistent time series used for headline employment data Timeliness results feed into policy Disadvantages Self reporting respondents answers can be inconsistent A survey sample error has to be considered when using data Possible discontinuities due to changes in industry classification Not unique other up to date employee estimates are available Coherence EU Regulations apply Not tourism direct employment employment in tourism industries

5 Employment characteristics: 1. Total Employment UK Employment by Tourism Industry Employment in main & second jobs (1,000s) Industry Group Accommodation for visitors Food and beverage serving activities 1,037 1,138 1,167 1,179 Passenger transport, vehicle hire, travel agencies etc Cultural, sports, recreational & conference activities Subtotal: Tourism characteristic activities 2,504 2,663 2,729 2,722 Subtotal: Non-tourism characteristic activities 27,718 27,078 27,035 27,213 Total: All industries 30,223 29,740 29,764 29,935 Source: ONS Annual Population Survey Note: Totals may not sum due to rounding Employment in tourism industries held up well in 2009 & 2010 when employment in other industries decreased. Tourism is recognised as an important contributor to the UK labour market following the recession

6 Employment characteristics: 1. Total Employment

7 Employment characteristics: 2. Part-time employment Tourism characteristic activities: 13 per cent of part-time employment in UK main jobs 30 per cent of part-time employment for students 16 per cent for those who couldn t find a full-time job

8 Employment characteristics: 2. Part-time employment 2008-based indices highlight proportionally large increases in part-time working in tourism industries in 2009 and 2010

9 Employment characteristics: 3. Self Employment 12 per cent of UK self-employment within tourism activities (less than 9 per cent of UK employees) 9 per cent of self-employment within transport & travel and cultural, sport, recreation etc (3 per cent of employees)

10 Employment characteristics: 4. Temporary Employment Temporary working is more prevalent in tourism activities than elsewhere. Particularly in cultural, sports etc activities In 2011, over 5 per cent of employment in tourism was casual work and there was also a higher proportion of seasonal work

11 Regional Variation in tourism employment in the UK Tourism is very important in predominantly rural or remote areas of UK e.g. Western Scotland, North West Wales and the far South West & North West of England Conversely, there are hotspots of tourism employment in urban London and parts of the much less remote South East of England

12 Regional Variation in tourism employment in the UK

13 Regional Variation in tourism employment in the UK

14 Regional Variation in tourism employment in the UK London accounts for over 16% of all employment in tourism in the UK but only 14% of all other employment

15 Characteristics of Tourism Workers 1. Occupations Tourism industries have a predominance of elementary occupations and a relatively low proportion of professional occupations However, there are a high percentage of managers in tourism as compared to non-tourism industries.

16 Characteristics of Tourism Workers 2. Age Profiles

17 Characteristics of Tourism Workers 3. Ethnicity 14 per cent of tourism industry employment is composed of ethnic minorities compared to just over 9 per cent elsewhere. Passenger transport etc activities and food & beverage serving have the largest proportions of ethnic minority employment. In both cases, Asian or Asian British employment is more than half of the proportion.

18 Characteristics of Tourism Workers 4. Nationality UK tourism industries employ non UK workers to a greater extent than other industries. There are high proportions of workers of recent EU accession state (A12) nationalities in accommodation activities and of non-eu nationalities in food and beverage serving.

19 Characteristics of Tourism Workers 5. Educational Attainment Cultural and sport activities have the highest levels of degree level qualifications amongst workers in tourism. In other sectors of tourism, however, there are low levels of higher education and proportionately more workers with no qualifications.

20 Conclusions Labour force surveys are a rich source of information on the employment characteristics of the tourism sector Limitation = all employment in the tourism industries included Advantages wide range of variables on employment and worker characteristics ability to look at regional and sub-regional trends and track changes over time invaluable source for tourism policy makers and researchers

21 Thank you for your attention. Contacts: