It’s highly likely that you, or someone you know, are working in one of the UK’s most popular jobs right now.
Care work and software development are among the most common types of full-time jobs held by women and men respectively, according to analysis of new ONS data by HR software and payroll provider Ciphr.
Care workers make up the biggest full-time workforce overall, with over half a million (554,000) estimated employees in the year to March 2026. That’s about 2.5% of the UK’s 21.9 million full-time employees (not including self-employed workers).
Just behind, with 492,000 full-time employees, are programmers and software development professionals – an umbrella term that encompasses 127 related job titles. In London, the South East, and East of England, more people work in this occupational role than any other.
The third most popular full-time job is secondary school teachers, with 399,700 employees.
Other jobs employing a significant number of full-time workers include financial managers and directors (340,200 estimated employees), office administrators and clerical assistants (327,900), sales accounts and business development managers (321,300), and warehouse operatives (313,400).
The most common jobs held by women and men
Perhaps surprisingly, there’s very little overlap when comparing the top 10 jobs held by women and men. Only three occupations – secondary school teachers, financial managers and directors, and care workers – appear in both lists.
This suggests that there is still much gender segregation in the UK’s job market, with men or women over- or under-represented in many common occupations.
Women account for two-fifths (42%) of the full-time workforce yet hold just a fifth (20%) of IT professionals roles and over two-thirds (70%) of health professionals roles. While men hold nine in ten (91%) of all full-time roles in skilled trades occupations but just a third (35%) of roles in administrative and secretarial work.
Illustrating this trend, the top five jobs with the most full-time female employees in the UK are care workers and home carers, administrative and clerical assistants (other administrative occupations n.e.c), other nursing professionals (including registered nurses, staff nurses, matrons, sisters and ward managers), and secondary and primary education teaching professionals.
The five jobs with the biggest number of full-time male employees are programmers and software development professionals, warehouse operatives, LGV drivers, sales accounts and business development managers, and financial managers and directors.
Over time, ongoing occupational gender segregation can perpetuate gender stereotypes and bias, negatively impact career advancement, training opportunities and employee mobility, and contribute to gender pay gaps in specific roles or across whole industries.
The UK still has a stubbornly high gender pay gap (in favour of men) despite it halving over the past 20 years from an average of 14.5% in 2004 to 6.9% in 2025 for full-time employees. Roles that may have stereotypically been seen as more ‘feminised’ in the past, due to their predominantly female workforces, such as care work, administration, or nursing, have been subject to systemic undervaluation for years, if not decades.
Ciphr’s research shows that over two-thirds (65% or 13) of the 20 most common jobs held by men, pay men in these roles more than the UK’s average median salary of £39,039. In comparison, more than half (55% or 11) of the 20 most common jobs held by women, pay women in these roles less than the UK average salary.
The most commonly held jobs by salary
Ciphr’s research also uncovered insights into the most common occupations across different salary groups.
Financial managers and directors may not hold the highest-paying full-time job in the UK (that’s chief executives and senior officials), but it is the most widely held job type among people earning over £60,000 a year, on average.
Programmers and software development professionals, sales managers, and IT managers are the most common job roles for those on £50,000 to £60,000.
Teachers (secondary and primary school) and nurses are the most popular full-time jobs for those earning between £40,000 and £50,000.
LGV drivers and book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks are the most common full-time jobs held by men and women respectively earning an average salary of £30,000 to £40,000 a year.
And care workers, administrative assistants, and warehouse operatives are the most common job types held by those earning £20,000 to £30,000.
Ciphr is a UK HR and payroll software company that builds solutions for UK HR and payroll teams at organisations with 200–2,000 employees. Its connected platform brings HR, payroll, recruitment, learning and benefits together, so people and payroll teams get one accurate source of data instead of disconnected systems that don't talk to each other. Ciphr is designed around UK legislation and compliance changes, provides expert implementation and ongoing customer support, and is trusted by more than 1,400 organisations.
For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.
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Media enquiries:
Emma-Louise Jones, digital PR manager at Ciphr
e: ejones@ciphr.com
Chris Boddice, chief marketing officer at Ciphr
e: cboddice@ciphr.com
Website: www.ciphr.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ciphr
Notes:
This article was updated with new data and analysis in August 2026.
Full-time workforce numbers were sourced from Nomis’ Annual Population Survey: April 2025-March 2026 dataset (the latest figures were released on 21 July 2026).
Occupational roles are listed as per the ONS’ Standard Occupational Classification (SOC2020) codes. Source: SOC 2020 Volume 2: the coding index and coding rules and conventions (Updated May 2026): https://bit.ly/47wT2Zo
Salary figures shown are median gross annual earnings for full-time workers for the tax year that ended on 5 April 2025. Based on employee earnings datasets released by the ONS in October 2025 (ASHE Table 14.7a Annual pay – Gross).
Ciphr is the go-to HR, payroll and benefits software partner for UK organisations with 200 to 2,000 employees. Its connected platform brings HR, payroll, recruitment, learning and benefits together, so people and payroll teams get one accurate source of data instead of disconnected systems that don't talk to each other. Ciphr is designed around UK legislation and compliance changes, provides expert implementation and ongoing customer support, and is trusted by more than 1,400 organisations.
The Ciphr Group is a privately held company backed by ECI Partners and headquartered in Reading. Over 230 employees work across the group, which includes Ciphr and FlexGenius, as well as its previous acquisition Marshall E-Learning (now known as Ciphr eLearning).
Ciphr spokespeople are available to provide expert media comment on a broad range of topics, including HR strategy, people management, employee experience and wellbeing, AI in HR, payroll, benefits and rewards, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), learning and development, the future of work, tech trends, business and leadership, marketing, and more.
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