Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom - January to December 2023
Statistics from the Annual Population Survey covering the period from January to December 2023.
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Economic Inactivity
Overall
In January to December 2023, there were an estimated 209,900 economically inactive 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland. This is 12,700 higher than the number of inactive 16 to 24 year olds in 2022. Over three quarters (75.6 per cent) of inactive 16 to 24 year olds were estimated to be in full-time education in 2023.
The estimated inactivity rate was 37.9 per cent in 2023. This was 2.1 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (35.8 per cent) and 1.1 pp higher than in 2019 (36.9 per cent). January to December 2019 is the last data point in the January to December series before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the United Kingdom as a whole, the estimated inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 39.8 per cent. This was 0.3 pp lower than a year ago (40.1 per cent) but 0.8 pp higher than 2019 (39.0 per cent).
Chart 5: The economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 24 in Scotland has typically been lower than for the United Kingdom. However, the gap has been narrowing over time
Economic inactivity rate estimates for persons aged 16 to 24, Scotland and the United Kingdom, January to December 2005 through to January to December 2023
Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December datasets, ONS
Shaded areas represent 95 percent confidence intervals.
Economic Inactivity by Sex
In January to December 2023, there were an estimated 104,700 inactive men aged 16 to 24 and 105,200 inactive women aged 16 to 24 in Scotland.
The estimated inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year old men was 37.7 per cent, 0.1 percentage points (pp) lower than a year ago (37.8 per cent) but 1.4 pp higher than in 2019 (36.3 per cent). While the estimated inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year old women was 38.2 per cent, 4.4 pp higher than a year ago (33.8 per cent) and 0.8 pp higher than in 2019 (37.5 per cent).
Chart 6: The gap between the economic inactivity rates for men and women aged 16 to 24 has generally been narrowing over time
Economic inactivity rate estimates for men and women aged 16 to 24 in Scotland, January to December 2004 through to January to December 2023
Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December datasets, ONS
Shaded areas represent 95 percent confidence intervals.
Contact
For enquiries about this publication please contact:
Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
Telephone: 0131 244 6773,
E-mail: LMStats@gov.scot
For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:
Office of the Chief Statistician
E-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot
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