Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland: an analysis of Scotland’s Census 2022
This report analyses Scotland’s Census 2022 data on Gypsy/Traveller demographics and compares results to the rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers).
Economic Activity
Economic Activity
Scotland’s Census 2022 collected information on economic activity. This question asked persons aged 16 and over if they were working or looking for work the week before they responded in the census. It measures if a person was an active participant in the labour market and provides insight into employment, unemployment, and economic status. It also measures whether a person was economically inactive due to one of the reasons: retired, student, looking after home/family, long-term sick or disabled, or other.
A smaller proportion of Gypsy/Travellers aged 16 and over reported being economically active as full-time or part-time employees compared to the rest of Scotland (30.1% and 50.6% respectively).
There was a similar proportion of Gypsy/Travellers and people in the rest of Scotland that reported being economically active in self-employment either full-time or part-time (8.9% compared to 7.6%).
The proportion of Gypsy/Travellers that were unemployed but looking for work was slightly higher than the rest of Scotland (5.0% compared to 2.6%).
Gypsy/Travellers who reported being economically inactive, the most common reasons were long-term sickness or disability (18.6%) and looking after home or family (11.0%). This was higher compared to the rest of Scotland (5.2% and 3.4% respectively).
Note that the proportion of Gypsy/Traveller’s with a student status (7.3%) is higher than the proportion of Gypsy/Traveller’s who were students and not economically active (5.6%), because this variable does not count those with a student status who are in employment or self-employment either full or part-time.
Table 9: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Traveller), by economic activity
|
Economic activity |
Gypsy/ Traveller (%) |
Rest of Scotland (excl G/T, %) |
|---|---|---|
|
Economically active - Employee |
30.1 |
50.6 |
|
Economically active - Self-employed |
8.9 |
7.6 |
|
Economically active - Unemployed |
5.0 |
2.6 |
|
Economically inactive - Retired |
10.9 |
23.3 |
|
Economically inactive - Student |
5.6 |
4.9 |
|
Economically inactive - Looking after home or family |
11.0 |
3.4 |
|
Economically inactive - Long-term sick or disabled |
18.6 |
5.2 |
|
Economically inactive - Other |
10.0 |
2.3 |
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
As shown in Table 10, additional breakdowns of economic activity by sex reveal that there is no substantial difference between male and female Gypsy/Travellers who are economically active as employees (30.3% and 29.8% respectively). However, there was a higher proportion of males that were self-employed compared to females (12.9% compared to 4.7%). Female Gypsy/Travellers were also more likely to be economically inactive due to looking after the home or family, in comparison to male Gypsy/Travellers (18.1% compared to 4.2%). However, given that several proportions were based on sample sizes that were below 100 (as shown in Table 9), it is advised that caution be taken when interpreting these results, since small changes in responses could lead to larger apparent variations.
Table 10: Proportion of Gypsy/Travellers, by economic activity and sex
Note: Where an asterisk (*) has been placed in the table, the sample size for the statistic is below 100. Caution is advised for interpreting smaller results, because it would only take a small amount of variation in the data to see a large apparent effect on the analysis of the data.
|
Economic activity |
Male (%) |
Female (%) |
|---|---|---|
|
Economically active - Employee |
30.3 |
29.8 |
|
Economically active - Self-employed |
12.9 |
4.7* |
|
Economically active - Unemployed |
6.1* |
4.3* |
|
Economically inactive - Retired |
11.0 |
10.8 |
|
Economically inactive - Student |
5.5* |
5.7* |
|
Economically inactive - Looking after home or family |
4.2* |
18.1 |
|
Economically inactive - Long-term sick or disabled |
18.9 |
18.2 |
|
Economically inactive - Other |
11.8 |
8.3 |
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
Unpaid Carer Status
Scotland’s Census 2022 asked people aged three and older if they provide unpaid care by looking after or giving help or support to family members, friends, or neighbours due to long-term physical or mental ill health or disability, or old age. This does not include any activities that are part of paid care.
The Census results record that the majority of both Gypsy/Travellers and the rest of Scotland did not provide unpaid care (84.1% compared to 88.1% respectively). However, there was a higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers that provided any amount of unpaid care compared to the rest of Scotland (15.9% compared to 11.9%).
A similar proportion provided unpaid care between 1 to 34 hours per week (7.5% of Gypsy/Travellers compared to 7.8% of people in the rest of Scotland). However, Figure 7 shows that a higher proportion of Gypsy/Travellers reported providing unpaid care for 35 hours or more per week than the rest of Scotland (8.3% and 4.1% respectively).
Figure 7: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by unpaid carer status
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
Table 11 shows that Gypsy/Travellers aged 35 and over are more likely to be carers than those aged 3 to 34. This is similar to the findings for the rest of Scotland, where people aged 35 and over are more likely to provide care than those aged 3 to 34 (Table 12).
Table 11: Percentage of Gypsy/Travellers, by age and carer status
Note: Where an asterisk (*) has been placed in the table, the sample size for the statistic is below 100. Caution is advised for interpreting smaller results, because it would only take a small amount of variation in the data to see a large apparent effect on the analysis of the data. These figures do not include the category ‘not appliable (aged less than 3)’ in the analysis.
|
Gypsy/Travellers |
No unpaid care (%) |
Provides 1 to 34 hours unpaid care per week (%) |
Provides 35 or more hours unpaid care per week (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Aged 3 to 34 |
89.3 |
5.1* |
5.2* |
|
Aged 35 and over |
79.2 |
9.6 |
11.3 |
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
Table 12: Percentage of the rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by age and carer status
|
Rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers) |
No unpaid care (%) |
Provides 1 to 34 hours unpaid care per week (%) |
Provides 35 or more hours unpaid care per week (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Aged 3 to 34 |
94.3 |
4.0 |
1.7 |
|
Aged 35 and over |
84.3 |
10.1 |
5.5 |
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
As shown in Figure 8, female Gypsy/Travellers were more likely than male Gypsy/Travellers to report providing unpaid care. The carer gap by sex for Gypsy/Travellers was even more pronounced in cases of providing 35 hours or more of unpaid care per week (10.1% of females compared to 6.5% of males) (Figure 8).
For Gypsy/Travellers, there was a 5.5 percentage points difference between male and females that provided no care (Figure 8). This is a slightly larger carer gap by sex than was present for the rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), where this difference was 3.4 percentage points (Figure 9).
Female and male Gypsy/Travellers were more likely to report providing 35 hours or more unpaid care per week when compared to the same sexes in the rest of Scotland (Figures 8 and 9).
Figure 8: Proportion of male and female Gypsy/Travellers, by unpaid carer status
Note: The proportions below include all those aged 3 and above, but excludes schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022
Figure 9: Proportion of male and females in the rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers), by unpaid carer status
Note: The proportions below include all those aged 3 and above, but excludes schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022