UK printing – gender, age, ethnicity and other descriptive statistics

Print Solutions

It is not quick and easy to gather relevant, detailed and accurate data that is entirely specific to the printing industry, however, with a bit of knowledge and time the BPIF has been able to build 'best' estimates that help depict the landscape for our industry.

The Office for National Statistics collects a massive amount of information and the organisation has researched across many data sources there to produce data on gender, age and ethnicity for employees in the UK printing industry, and for company size and age. It will continue to build on relevant industry research but here is a summary of some of the work the BPIF is doing now.

First, the headline structural data for the industry suggests that, in 2024, turnover was £13.7 billion, with 6800 companies employing 93,000 people.

The UK population is approximately 49% male, and 51% female, historically this is a stable split. If we drill down, the gender split for the entire UK working population in 2024 was 51% male, and 49% female. Back in 2014 it was 53% male, and 47% female. Manufacturing is 72% male, and 28% female, in 2014 it was 75% male, and 25% female. Printing is 70% male, and 30% female, in 2014 it was 69% male and 31% female.

Generally, across many sectors (including printing, although the chosen 10 year comparison doesn't necessarily show it) the proportion of females increased by a few percent in the seven years preceding 2020 and has decreased by a couple of percent since.

Data and comparisons for age profile and average age is a bit more difficult to unearth – and so we don't yet have too many comparisons with other sectors – but:

• The average age of the UK population is estimated to be 40.9 in 2024, 10 years ago it was 40.0.

• The average age of the UK working population (over 16) in 2024 is 42.3, 10 years ago it was 41.5.

• The average age of the printing industry in 2024 is 43.4, 10 years ago it was 43.0.

The average age for the UK is slowly climbing and the average age in printing is slightly higher than the UK average, but it hasn't increased as much in the last 10 years.

With an ageing population, and increases in the state pension age, the economy needs industries where older people can continue to work if – it is important that employment opportunities exist for people in their 50s and 60s. However, industry survival and change demands that a young and diverse workforce is provided opportunities too.

When it comes to employee ethnicity, data from the ONS suggests that in 2024:

• 84.0% of the UK workforce is white (printing – 88.2%).

• 4.4% is Black (2.6%).

• 3.8% is Indian (3.9%).

• 1.6% Mixed (1.4%).

• 1.5% Pakistani (1.2%).

• 1.4% Other Asian (1.0%).

• With the remainder being Chinese, Bangladeshi, or ‘Other’.

There is an over representation of white people in the UK printing industry, and a correspondingly slight under-representation of most other ethnic groups.

(The printing ethnicity data is estimated from available data for ‘Manufacturing’ – better data specific to printing has not yet been uncovered).

It has been said that the UK printing industry has a long tail, this is not disputed by the fact that, in 2024, 75% of companies employed less than 10 people.  Only 50 companies had 250 or more employees.

Just over one-third of companies (36%) had a turnover less than £100,000, and 5% of companies had a turnover in excess of £5 million; however, we estimate that this 5% of companies accounts for around 75% of total industry turnover.

The age profile of companies shows that in 2024 almost two-thirds of companies in the industry were at least 10 years old.  However, 9% of companies were formed within the last two years.

If you are a BPIF member you can have full access to the research here.