The Surrey workforce: statistics about jobs and employees in the county

This page includes explorable data and a summary of measures around employed Surrey residents such as employment rates, occupations, pay, and job density.

Surrey-i also includes other relevant summaries and data. These summaries can be found at low income and unemployment, child poverty and disadvantage, local businesses and enterprises in Surrey.

Highlights:

(updated March 2025)

• It is estimated that 80 per cent of Surrey residents aged 16 to 64 are in employment, which is higher than the England estimate of 76 per cent (Oct 2023 - Sept 2024).
• The employment rate is higher for male Surrey residents at 83 per cent compared to women at 77 per cent. This is because female Surrey residents are more likely to be economically inactive (21.0%) than their male counterparts (14.1%) rather than a higher unemployment rate.
• Compared to the rest of the country, a higher proportion of Surrey residents who are in employment are managers, directors and senior officials (18.6% compared to 14.9% in the South East and 12.9% in England) or are in 'professional occupations' (24.3% compared to 21.2% in the South East and 20.3% in England) (2021 Census).
• The estimated median annual wage for residents in full-time employment in 2024 is higher in Surrey at £45,831 compared to the South East (£40,339 and England (£37,617).
• One in ten Surrey residents in full-time employment are estimated to earn less than £24,615 a year (2024).
• Surrey has a jobs density of 0.88, which suggests there are 88 available jobs for every 100 residents (2022).
• Prior to 2020, the last time the jobs density for Surrey was below 0.9 was in 2013. Since the millennium, 2022 is also the first time that Surrey has not had a higher jobs density than the figure for England.

This data can be further explored in the Employment-related statistics about Surrey residents dashboard below.

Sources:

Employment activity & employment by occupation & employment by qualifications: Annual Population Survey on https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/

Gross Pay Statistics by place of residence: Earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority: ASHE Table 8 - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Jobs density on https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/