The economic activity status of an adult in the census summarises whether or not they were actively participating in the labour market in March 2021. Non-workers were classified as either unemployed or economically inactive depending on their responses to the census. Those who indicated that they were actively seeking work were defined as unemployed. All other non-workers were defined as economically inactive and were asked about the main reason for not working.
The census provides a snapshot of labour market data and more up to date headline statistics are available via the hub's employment and skills page. The added value if the census is that it provides detailed information that is unavailable from other sources. The charts of economic activity by single year of age on this page are a good example, as are the maps of economic activity for small areas.