What would you like to look for?

What is administrative data?
  1. Home
  2. Our mission

Relationships between occupation and Covid-19 outcomes

Categories: Office for National Statistics, Health & wellbeing, Inequality & social inclusion, World of work, Research using linked data, Research findings, Impact, Policy, Practice, People

15 July 2024

Relationships between occupation and Covid-19 outcomes

This research used data made available via the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service, which is being expanded and improved with ADR UK funding.

Author: Dr Sarah Rhodes, University of Manchester, www.manchester.ac.uk

Date: May 2024

Research summary

This work explored relationships between types of occupation and the risk of Covid-19 outcomes such as infection, severe disease and Long Covid. We found evidence that there were increased risks for some occupational groups and that this varied over time. For some occupational groups, high elevations in risk seen early in the pandemic largely disappeared by the later waves. The findings were fed into government departments and featured in an independent government report on Covid-19 and occupational impacts.

There are many workplace features that are likely to be related to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) such as contact with other people, ventilation, likelihood of mask-use and ability to work from home. It was important to know which occupations, if any, are at increased risk from Covid-19, so that support strategies could be targeted to those groups during the pandemic and in future pandemics.

Additionally, identifying characteristics of occupational groups with elevated risks can also help us to identify workplace factors most likely to be related to the transmission of Covid-19. This means that modifications to the workplace can be put in place.

This work was supported by funding through the National Core Study 'PROTECT' programme, managed by the Health and Safety Executive on behalf of HM Government and funding from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection Survey funding bids.

Data used

This project used the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey linked to the National Immunisation Service records.

Office for National Statistics; University of Oxford; National Health Service England, released 31 March 2023, ONS SRS Metadata Catalogue, dataset, COVID-19 Infection Survey linked to Combined Vaccination - UK, https://doi.org/10.57906/jgth-8v47

Methods used

We used responses to questions in the Covid-19 Infection Survey to group participants by their work status and occupation. We explored the relationships between occupational group and SARS-CoV-2 infection and Long COVID, and how these varied over time, using longitudinal regression models.

We included other variables such as age, gender, household size, socioeconomic status, ethnic group, region, other health conditions and vaccine status. This allowed us to explore whether or not relationships between occupation and Covid-19 illness remained evident once these variables were taken into account.

Research findings

Elevated risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection were seen when averaged over the whole time period from April 2020 to Nov 2021 for:

  • workers in education
  • workers in social care
  • bus and coach drivers 
  • those working in the police and other protective services

when compared with non-essential workers.

When split by time, relative differences were greatest during the first two waves of the pandemic. For workers in healthcare, elevated risks were seen only early in the pandemic and then disappeared during the later stages of the pandemic. Education saw increased relative risks after the initial lockdown which persisted over the pandemic. These differences remained after taking into account other factors.

Rates of vaccination and timing of vaccination varied by occupational group. Including vaccine status in our analyses showed that variation in vaccine coverage only accounted for a very small proportion of the differences between occupations in terms of Covid-19 risk.

We classified jobs according to workplace characteristics thought to be related to Covid-19 risk, such as:

  • number of workers
  • types of contact
  • ability to socially distance
  • use of face coverings
  • indoor versus outdoor locations.

This revealed strong correlations between these factors and infection rate very early in the pandemic, but these correlations were not evident after the first pandemic wave.

The prevalence of Long Covid varied by occupational group, with patterns largely matching those seen for SARS-CoV-2 infection risk.

Research impact

The PROTECT National Core Study was part of the Covid-19 National Core Studies programme spearheaded by the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. PROTECT findings were fed directly to government departments via internal reports,  presentations and other communications.

The findings have been featured in the government independent report on Covid-19 and occupational impacts and a position paper from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. These made recommendations regarding compensation relating to Covid-19 acquired in the workplace for healthcare, social care, bus and taxi drivers and protective services, and acknowledge the variations in relative differences over time. 

Research outputs

Publications and reports

Presentations and awards

About the ONS Secure Research Service

The ONS Secure Research Service is an accredited trusted research environment, using the Five Safes Framework to provide secure access to de-identified, unpublished data.

If you use ONS Secure Research Service data and would like to discuss writing a future case study with us, please get in touch at IDS.Impact@ons.gov.uk. Please also report any outputs here: Outputs Reporting Form

 

Share this:

Cookie Extension Logo