Study reveals the UK’s most popular jobs in 2026

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 top 10 most common full-time occupations in the UK – and what they pay: 

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.

Ways that employers can help address gender pay disparities include introducing regular equal pay audits and pay transparency policies, increased investment in diversity and inclusion training to eliminate bias in recruitment and promotion processes, and greater access to flexible working arrangements for all.