Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applicants were granted permission to work in 2018.

Asylum seekers are not allowed to work in the UK unless their claim has been outstanding for at least 12 months through no fault of their own.
The data requested on the number of asylum seekers granted permission to work in 2018 is only held on paper case files or within the notes sections of the Home Office's databases. Therefore, the number of asylum seekers granted permission to work is not held in a reportable format

Those who are granted permission to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which can be found in the Immigration Rules Appendix K: shortage occupation list (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-k-shortage-occupation-list)