BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 65

This is the 50th publication of weighted Scotland estimates from the ONS’ BICS. These are experimental statistics, which means that they are still in development but have been released to enable their use at an early stage. All results are provisional and subject to revision.

Latest main findings for businesses with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland

• in Wave 65, 57.4% of businesses reported that the prices of materials, goods or services bought in August 2022 had increased from the previous calendar month. In contrast, only 25.1% of businesses reported that they had increased the price of goods or services sold
• the industry sectors with the highest proportion of businesses reporting increases in prices of materials, goods and services bought were Accommodation & Food Services (73.3%), Transport & Storage (63.4%) and Construction (60.4%)
• in Wave 65, over half (52.0%) of applicable businesses reported that they had been affected by the recent increase in energy prices in some way
• in Wave 65, difficulties in recruiting employees had been experienced by an estimated 48.0% of applicable businesses. The highest rates of recruitment difficulties were reported by the Accommodation & Food Services (55.7%) and Construction (52.8%) industry sectors
• an estimated 30.1% of businesses reported that their turnover had increased in August 2022 compared to July 2022. An estimated 18.8% of businesses reported that their turnover had decreased over this period – rising to 29.0% of businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services industry sector