BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 99

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

• in the period 27 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 (Wave 99), 25.3% of businesses reported experiencing a shortage of workers – up from 22.1% in the previous wave
• in Wave 99, the industry sector with the highest rate of worker shortages was Construction (41.7%)
• in Wave 99, 48.1% of businesses reported that the shortage of workers has resulted in employees working increased hours
• in the period 27 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, the share of businesses that were using or intended to use increased homeworking as a permanent business model was highest in the Information & Communication (47.3%) and Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities (30.1%) sectors
• improved staff wellbeing was the most commonly reported reason for using increased homeworking as a permanent businesses model going forward - this was reported by 84.1% of relevant businesses in Wave 99
• homeworking not being suitable for the business was the most commonly reported reason for not using increased homeworking as a permanent businesses model going forward - this was reported by 84.4% of relevant businesses in Wave 99
• of businesses currently trading that have exported in the last 12 months, 19.4% reported exporting less in December 2023 compared to December 2022, and 15.8% reported exporting more
• the exporting and importing challenge that was most commonly reported to have increased in December 2023 was change in transportation costs– this was the case for both exporting and importing