[Moderator David@stives]

If one quoted figure is correct 180,000 window cleaners in the UK,
And there are 60 million people in the uk.

This means 1 in 333 people are window cleaners now if there are a quoted 30 million workers  that means there are 1 in 166 workers are window cleaners.

so that means in my town approx population of 10,000 that equates to 30 window cleaners.

I only know of about 10 and some of them live outside the area.

Do you think the

 figure of 180'000 window cleaners is all hype.

Or is the other quoted figure i have heard 60'000 more likely to be correct.

Dave

[jouk45]

dont forget the ones who are working on the grip (still signing on) :

[Pole2pole]

If i'm not mistaken Dave, wasn't the wording "180,000 people connected to the industry".(whatever that means)......not neccessarily 180,000 shiners shining away. Just thought i'd interject 

[Moderator David@stives]

I have just found out there are 25 million workers as apposed to 30 million .

Making it about i in every 150 workers are shiners ?

[Pole2pole]

Oh crap..........I'm goin back to Uni to polish up on my I.T. skills 

[Pole2pole]

Does that mean half the population are on the scrounge???
Oh well.when the drought order comes into effect i think i'll join 'em  :

[ronaldo]

Theres loads of window cleaners down our way and beleive it or not most of them cant even speak English.

[Ian_Giles]

the 180,000 I put in my post was lifted from what I read in one of Glyn's posts about the hosepipe ban!
At least I hope I quoted him right!
god knows who is right there, but in Chepstow, a town of just over 10,000 I know of at least 10.
there are several more than that that work the area and come in from further afield.
But if I personally know of ten (individuals, even if part of a partnership or wife and so on) there are sure to be a few others.
Perhaps as high as 20....30 I don't know about! But I'f have thought unlikely, though altogether, including those teams than come in from outside it is at least that many working the general area.

I wonder if we can find out how many official window cleaners there are??

I'm gonna do a quick google...................................................

"There are around 225,000 window cleaners working in the UK. Many are self-employed and some work part time. Some are employed by contract cleaners and specialist window cleaning firms."

Quote taken from;

http://www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u/jobfamily/personalandotherservicesinclhairandbeauty/windowcleaner.cfm?id=1500



Seems like there are loads of us out  there!

Ian

[gaza]

There may be 1000s of w/c but as my customers tell me a goodun is hard to find

  gaza

[Moderator David@stives]

225'000 that figure goes up every year.

The fed quote the 180'000 figure as well as a couple of other places.

So that now makes 1 worker in every 111 is a window cleaner.

Making 1 window cleaner for approxomatly every 100 houses and i reckon only 2/3 of houses employ the services of a wc.

So that means we have 66 houses each if you exclude businesses.

I have got more than my fair share having over 300 houses and some 50 businesses.

Anyone care to elaborate   

[Moderator David@stives]

I based the houses on there being approx 22 million households in the uk

[Morph]

Anyone care to elaborate   

YES

[Mike George]

Didn't I read somewhere that in five years time 50% of the population will be Elvis impersonators?

So how many Elvis impersonating window cleaners are there?

[Philip Hanson]

I've heard the 180,000 figure banded around for ages, as well as 60,000, even 20,000.

Personally, I don't seriously believe there are 180,000, I think thats way too high.  I'd say its more like 60,000.

But the problem is, there is no easy way to find out.  You don't have to 'register' to be a window cleaner, and as we know membership of the trade associations is no indicator.  Lots of window cleaners will not admit to working if they are asked.

Also, do you class someone who does gardening with a bit of window cleaning as well?  What about those that only do 2 days of window cleaning a week?

The definition of a "window cleaner" is not as easy as you might think, and its even harder to estimate how many people do it.

So the answer is, not 'I don't know' but rather 'you can't know'

-Philip

[KJG]

A UK Google search for "window cleaners" comes up with 272,000 which is close to the figure. However, not all are direct links. A lot are repeated sub searches from Touch Local and Yell type sites.