UK civil society larger employer than banking and accountancy sectors

New figures in the UK Civil Society Almanac 2009 launched at last NCVO’s Annual conference, reveal that UK civil society (which includes charities, housing associations, universities and co-operatives) is a larger employer than both the banking and accountancy industries combined and is a significant and growing employer of 1.3 million people.

The voluntary and community sector (VCS) makes up the core of civil society, representing 47% of employees within wider civil society and is also a major employer of 1 in 50 of the total UK workforce, accounting for 2.2% of all UK employees.

Over the last ten years, the VCS has experienced a much higher rate of increase (24%, equivalent to 123,000 employees) than both the private sector (9%) and the public sector (16%). The VCS expanded to 634,000 employees in ten years, which is more than the working population of Birmingham[i], affirming that it is a major component of the UK labour market.

The significant and growing size of the VCS shows that it is increasingly becoming an attractive career option, offering real employment to many people, with 20,000 more employees taking up careers in it this year than last year.

The majority of the VCS workforce are women. In 2006/07 marginally more women (71%) were employed in the voluntary and community sector than in the public sector (64%) and many more than in the private sector (39%). The number of women in the VCS has also seen a continual steady increase in the last ten years.

Part-time work is also a significant part of voluntary and community sector employment with 235,000 part-time employees and 399,000 full-time employees in the UK voluntary and community sector. Part-time employment is much higher in the VCS than in both the public and private sectors, with 37% of employees in the VCS compared to 29% of employees in the public sector and 23% of employees in the private sector.

The evidence shows that the sector’s income, expenditure and workforce has grown year-on-year since the Millennium and that it was in peak financial condition before the recession. Income to the voluntary and community sector has increased by 3.3% to £33.2billion. The total number of UK charities now stands at over 170,900, a net rise of 6,810 organisations.

Speaking at NCVO’s Annual Conference, Stuart Etherington, CEO of NCVO, said:

It is vitally important that we do not underestimate the immense contribution the whole of civil society makes to the quality of peoples’ lives, to their local communities and to the UK economy.

With the current recession there will inevitably be some winners and losers, but this period could also be seen as a positive opportunity for the sector to harness and employ those highly-skilled individuals in the workforce who are now seeking to move from employment in the private sector into the public and voluntary and community sector.