Debate on the UK tech industry following London tech week

The size of the industry in the UK

There were 1.86 million jobs in the digital sector in October 2021 to September 2022, which was 5.5% of all jobs. The largest sub-sector was the computer programming and related activities sector with 1.03 million jobs, which was 55% of jobs within this sector.

The economic output of the digital sector was 7.7% of total economic output in 2022. The largest sub-sector in terms of economic output was also the computer programming and related activities sector which accounted for 38% of all digital sector output.

Trends

In March 2023, economic output (GVA) of the digital sector was 12% above the level in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit the UK economy.

In contrast the economic output of the whole economy has barely grown over the period – it was 0.1% higher in March 2023 than in February 2020.

Government policies

The government have produced a number of strategies and policies on areas relating to the sector, including:

UK Science and Technology Framework, 6 March 2023

UK’s International Technology Strategy, 22 March 2023

UK Digital Strategy, 13 June 2022

AI regulation: a pro-innovation approach (white paper), 29 March 2023