Oxford has a highly skilled labour market, shaped by its universities, hospitals, research institutions, knowledge-intensive businesses and wider service economy.
The city has a large working age population, high job density, strong levels of employment and a well-qualified workforce, but also faces challenges around affordability, recruitment, skills inequality and uneven access to opportunity across wards.
Oxford's labour market at a glance
- Oxford supports approximately 124,000 jobs and has a distinctive employment profile centred on education, healthcare, research and innovation. Education makes up 31.5% of jobs and health and social work a further 20.2%, meaning these sectors provide more than half of all employment in the city. This reflects the significant role played by the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as major employers
- Oxford is home to 4,865 businesses, 84% of which are micro businesses employing fewer than 10 people
- Around 46,000 people travel into Oxford for work, highlighting the city's importance as a regional employment hub
- The city has a particularly large working age population, with 72.4% of residents aged 16 to 64, compared with 61.7% in the South East and 62.9% in England
- Around 43,600 undergraduate and postgraduate students attend the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University
- Oxford has a highly skilled workforce, with 63.4% of residents qualified to RQF Level 4 or above, compared with 49.5% in the South East and 48.0% nationally
- The city's employment rate is 77.4%, above the England average of 75.8%, while its unemployment rate is 3.3%, below both the South East (3.7%) and England (4.6%) averages
- 9.5% of Oxford’s working age population is self-employed, mirroring the national average and sitting fractionally lower than the average for the South East of 10%
- Oxford’s claimant count rate (Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit) is 2.6%, significantly lower than the South East average of 3.2% and the national average of 4.1%
Supporting an inclusive labour market
Oxford City Council works with employers and partners to help create a thriving and inclusive local economy. This includes:
- administering and promoting the Oxford Living Wage
- working with the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP) to bring organisations together to share learning and take practical action to reduce inequality, create opportunities and ensure more local people can benefit from the county’s success
- supporting local recruitment, employment and skills initiatives, particularly for groups that face barriers to work
- encouraging apprenticeships, training and skills development opportunities
- helping businesses maximise social value and local economic impact, including through Community Employment and Procurement Plans (CEPPs) on major developments in the city
- supporting partnerships and programmes that connect residents with employment, training and career opportunities
Sources
The data on this page is drawn from the latest available data from sources including:
Updated July 2026
