BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 71

This is the 56th publication of weighted Scotland estimates from the ONS’ BICS. These are experimental statistics, which means that they are still in development. All results are provisional and subject to revision.

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

• in Wave 71, 44.4% of applicable businesses reported difficulties in recruiting employees in November 2022. The highest rates of recruitment difficulties were reported by businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services (56.9%) and Administration & Support Services (54.8%) industry sectors
• in Wave 71, 42.7% of businesses reported that the prices of materials, goods or services bought in November 2022 had increased from the previous calendar month. In contrast, only 18.4% 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 (69.6%) and Wholesale, Retail & Repair of Vehicles (51.9%)
• in Wave 71, over half (52.6%) of applicable businesses reported that they had been affected by the recent increase in energy prices in some way
• around one fifth (19.9%) of businesses reported that their turnover had increased in November 2022 compared to October 2022. Whereas 26.4% of businesses reported that their turnover had decreased over this period – rising to 50.2% of businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services industry sector

Note that BICS Scotland data for Wave 72 and Wave 73 are scheduled for release on Friday 20th of January 2023.