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Publication - Statistics

Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom – January to December 2022

Published
15 March 2023
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Part of
Economy, Work and skills

Statistics from the Annual Population Survey covering the period from January to December 2022.

This document is part of a collection

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Unemployment

Overall

In January to December 2022, an estimated 34,300 people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in Scotland. This is 800 more than the number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds in 2021.

The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 9.7 per cent in 2022. This was 0.5 percentage points (pp) lower than a year ago (10.2 per cent) but 1.4 pp higher than in 2019 (8.3 per cent). January to December 2019 is the last data point in this series before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the United Kingdom as a whole, the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 10.4 per cent. This was 2.1 pp lower than the year before (12.5 per cent) and 0.9 pp lower than in 2019 (11.3 per cent). Both the change on year and change since 2019 represent statistically significant changes.

Chart 4: Unemployment rate of people aged 16 to 24; Scotland and the United Kingdom; 2004 to 2022

Line chart showing unemployment rates of Scotland and United Kingdom as separate lines. Rates increase from 2004 to a peak in 2011. Rates decrease until 2019. There is a large increase in unemployment between 2019 and 2020 but the rate has decreased since then. Scotland's unemployment rate is lower than the United Kingdom's in most years.

Source: Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec datasets, ONS

Note: Shaded areas represent 95 per cent confidence intervals

Unemployment by Sex

In January to December 2022, there were an estimated 19,600 unemployed men aged 16 to 24 and 14,600 unemployed women aged 16 to 24 in Scotland.

The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year old men was 11.4 per cent, 0.4 percentage points (pp) lower than a year ago but 1.5 pp higher than 2019. While the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year old women was 8.1 per cent, 0.5 pp lower than a year ago but 1.5 pp higher than 2019.

Chart 5: Unemployment rate of people aged 16 to 24 by Sex; Scotland; 2004 to 2022

Line chart showing unemployment rates for men and women in Scotland as separate lines. Rates increase from 2004 to a peak in 2011. The men's rate decrease from the peak until 2018. There is another increase until 2020 then another decrease. The women's rate decrease from the peak until 2017. Unemployment rates for women remain around the same for the remainder of the series with the exception of 2020 where a large increase occurs. Men's unemployment rates are higher than women's in all years except 2018.

Source: Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec datasets, ONS

Note: Shaded areas represent 95 per cent confidence intervals

Contact

If you have any enquiries relating to Labour Market Statistics then please contact us at:

Email: LMStats@gov.scot

Telephone: 0131 244 6773

Post:
Labour Market Statistics
OCEAES: Economic Strategy
5 Atlantic Quay
150 Broomielaw
Glasgow
G2 8LU

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