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Hollowing out: London's shifting occupations

London Essays – Issue 7: Work

Hollowing out: London's shifting occupations

London’s labour force has become more polarised over the last decade.

The capital has seen notable relative growth in higher-earning and higher-skilled occupations, and some increases in lower-paid work. Middle-income occupations have declined as a proportion of the whole, with a dramatic fall in administrative and secretarial work – a trend that might well be accentuated by further automation.

Note: Each bubble represents an occupation as classified by a two-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code (2010), while their colours correspond to the one-digit SOC (2010) broad occupation category into which this falls. The size of bubble is proportional to the number of jobs in that specific occupation in London in 2015/16.Source: All data is from the Annual Population Survey, 2006 and 2016, covering pay in 2005/6 and 2015/6.