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Housing and resident population

Statistical information on these topics can be found in our Development and population pages.

City Briefings

The City Statistics briefing (2MB) looks at the City of London's role as a global business hub for financial and related professional services. It provides facts and figures about employment and firms located within the City, as well as highlighting some recent changes to the City as a workplace.

City workers, City businesses and financial services

The below statistics complement the City Statistics briefing, providing more detail on changes and trends in the City’s workforce, economy, and role as a financial and professional services hub.

Number of people employed in the City

The most recent Business Register and Employment Survey (2018), shows that 513,000 people are employed in the City of London. This represents 10% of Greater London's employment, and 1.6% of the GB's total employment, meaning that over 1 in 58 of the GB's workforce are employed in the City.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Employment projections for financial and professional services

GLA Economics forecasts that employment in London’s finance and insurance services sector will increase by 0.2% annually between 2018-50, amounting to an extra 23,109 workers. Professional services are expected to experience the largest increase in job numbers over this period, with an extra 509,382 jobs added to the workforce (1.4% annual rise in employment). Employment in the City of London is forecast to reach 705,000 by 2050, up 34% from 2016 levels.

The forecast is based on assuming annual output growth of 2.5% per annum in the capital to 2018, and thereafter growth declining at an exponential rate towards 2.0 per cent. It does not include any Brexit-related changes.

Number of businesses in the City of London

Number of City enterprises banded by numbers of employees, 2018

Size (number of employees)

Micro

(0-9)

Small  

(10-49)

Medium-sized

   (50 -249)

Large

(250+)

Number of businesses 19,680 2,875      760 265

Source: Office for National Statistics, UK Business; activity, size and location 2018

Area Number of enterprises
City of London 23,580
London 506,180
United Kingdom 2,669,440

Source: Office for National Statistics, UK Business; activity, size and location 2018

The makeup of the City of London's workforce

Breakdown of number of jobs in the City by gender, country of birth and age - compared

Area Male Female UK EEA Rest of
the world
20-24 25-49 50+
City of London​ 61% 39% 59% 18% 23% 7% 75% 19%
London​ 53% 47% 59% 14% 26% 8% 68% 25%
UK 50.5% 49.5% 83% 7% 10% 9% 59% 32%

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, October 2017; Office for National Statistics, Annual Population Survey, 2017; ONS user requested data on “European Economic Area workers in the UK”, 2017.

Sources of other statistical information

  • TheCityUK maintains a comprehensive archive of authoritative reports on industry sectors and products as well as updates on key financial indicators.
  • For an analysis of current trends in the City's employment market on a monthly basis, see Morgan McKinley employment register.
  • Nomis is a service provided by the Office for National Statistics, ONS, to give you free access to the most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics from official sources. Access to Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) data requires special permission for which there is a fee.
  • The City Business Library (CBL) is the leading public library in the UK for free and current business information including business planning statistics.
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