Figures released this morning by the Office of National Statistics suggest that some of the lowest paid workers in the country are at the highest risk of dying from Covid-19.
The statistics cover related deaths by occupation, England and Wales up to and including 20 April 2020.
A total of 2,494 deaths involving coronavirus in the working age population (those aged 20 to 64 years) of England and Wales were registered up to and including 20 April .
Nearly two-thirds of these deaths were among men , with the rate of death involving COVID-19 being statistically higher in males, with 9.9 deaths per 100,000 compared with 5.2 deaths per 100,000 females (882 deaths).
Compared with the rate among people of the same sex and age in England and Wales, men working in the lowest skilled occupations had the highest rate of death involving COVID-19, with 21.4 deaths per 100,000 males, men working as security guards had one of the highest rates, with 45.7 deaths per 100,000 (63 deaths).
Men and women working in social care, a group including care workers and home carers, both had significantly raised rates of death involving COVID-19, with rates of 23.4 deaths per 100,000 males (45 deaths) and 9.6 deaths per 100,000 females (86 deaths).
Healthcare workers, including those with jobs such as doctors and nurses, were not found to have higher rates of death involving COVID-19 when compared with the rate among those whose death involved COVID-19 of the same age and sex in the general population.
Among men, a number of other specific occupations were found to have raised rates of death involving COVID-19, including: taxi drivers and chauffeurs (36.4 deaths per 100,000); bus and coach drivers (26.4 deaths per 100,000); chefs (35.9 deaths per 100,000); and sales and retail assistants (19.8 deaths per 100,000).
