2011 Census - further tables released

We are pleased to announce the release of further statistics from the 2011 Census on 23 May 2014. This release consists of:

The Workplace release contains statistics about the characteristics of the workplace population of England and Wales on census day, 27 March 2011 using the new workplace zone geography

Workplace population

The workplace population is an estimate of the population working in an area. It includes usual residents aged 16 to 74 whose usual place of work is in the area. This population is equivalent to the workplace population used in the 2001 Census. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in their area of their usual residence. The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

  • Those living in England and Wales but working in Scotland, Northern Ireland, outside the UK or on offshore installations,
  • Those with a place of work in England and Wales but who are not usually resident in England and Wales, and
  • Short-term residents

Workplace Zones

Workplace zones are used across England and Wales as the base building block geography for the publication of 2011 Census workplace outputs.

Produced for the first time from 2011 Census data, they were developed as a suitable geography for publishing workplace-based statistics and outputs. Unlike Output Areas (OAs), which were originally created for the analysis of population statistics using residential population and household data, workplace zones provide greater consistency in the number of workers or businesses contained within an area.

Workplace zones are based on maintained 2011 OAs which are then merged or split using thresholds of workers or workplace postcodes. Where an OA contains fewer than 100 workers or three workplace postcodes, it has been merged with an adjacent OA to produce a non-disclosive unit. Where an OA contains more than 625 workers, attempts have been made to split it down using building blocks composed of workplace postcodes.

Workplace zones are constrained to middle layer super output areas (MSOAs) to provide consistency between the OA and workplace zone geographies, and to allow for comparison of 2001 and 2011 Census workplace outputs at the MSOA level.