An analysis by the GMB union of the recently published Labour Force Survey revealed that there are 4,085,000 senior public sector officials and senior private sector managers employed in Britain’s economy. That is almost 15% of all employees in Britain. This means that almost one in seven workers is now a senior official or senior manager and they have become the largest occupational group in the economy. In contrast there are 3 million people employed in skilled trades which is some 11% of the total workforce.By comparison, in 1981 there were 2,700,000 senior officials and managers, almost 12.% of the then total workforce. At this time skilled manual workers numbered 3,998,800 or nearly 18.% of the total workforce.

Currently in the City of London, almost 1 in 3 male workers is a senior official or a senior manager. There are considerable regional variations. In the London region over 19% of the workforce are classed as senior officials or senior managers, whilst in the north east region this reduces to 12 %.

The analysis also showed that 12% of the workforce are in professional occupations and 14.% are in associate professional and technical occupations.