New research from Utility Bidder looked at the regions and sectors that are making the most people redundant. Through this analysis, we found that wholesale retail is the industry that made the second most amount of people redundant in 2021 so far, with 14,113 redundancies between April and June this year.
The research defines wholesale retail as a form of business to business trade such as the process of selling goods such as motor vehicles and their parts and accessories to retailers for resale. It is important to note the sector also includes those employed in repairing motor vehicles.
Top 10 Industries with Most Redundancies in 2021
| Rank | Industry | Redundancies | Redundancies per 1,000 people |
| 1 | Manufacturing | 15,117 | 5.91 |
| 2 | Wholesale retail & repair of motor vehicles | 14,113 | 4.15 |
| 3 | Professional, scientific & technical activities | 9,356 | 4.5 |
| 4 | Human health & social work activities | 9,303 | 2.23 |
| 5 | Information & communication | 7,942 | 5.84 |
| 6 | Transport & Storage | 6,818 | 5.4 |
| 7 | Administrative & support services | 6,739 | 6.02 |
| 8 | Construction | 6,305 | 4.78 |
| 9 | Financial, insurance & real estate activities | 5,480 | 3.24 |
| 10 | Other services | 4,218 | 3.59 |
- Manufacturing is the industry which saw the most redundancies in 2021, with 15,117 people in the sector losing their jobs between April and June of this year, which works out at 5.91 redundancies per 1,000 people.
- The agriculture, fishing, energy & water industry is the one to see the biggest increase in redundancies since 2011, with a 79.97% increase from 1,807 redundancies in 2011 to 3,252 this year so far.
Further Findings
- As the UK’s financial and business centre, London tops the ranking for the region that has made the most people redundant in 2021, with 19,095 redundancies occurring between April and June of this year. This works out at 4.81 redundancies per 1,000 people, and it’s a 0.04% increase from the 2011 figure.
- Public admin & defence; social security is the industry that saw the biggest decrease in redundancies since 2011, with an 86.26% decrease. In 2011 11,611 people in the sector were made redundant whilst only 1,597 people were made redundant this year.
- The age group most likely to face redundancy is the 50+ range, with 35,355 people in this demographic being made redundant in 2021 so far, which equals 4.21 redundancies per 1,000 people.
You can see the full data by clicking here.