Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom - January to December 2024

This publication contains the latest estimates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity for 16 to 24 year olds. Estimates are for Scotland and the United Kingdom and cover the period January to December 2024. Data are sourced from the Annual Population Survey (APS), first released on 12 March 2025 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

All ONS APS-based outputs have been designated as official statistics in development until further review. Further details on this can be found in the exchange between ONS and OSR: Michael Keoghan  to Siobhan Tuohy-Smith: Request to suspend APS accreditation – Office for Statistics Regulation

Key Points

The latest ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) data are for January to December 2024. The latest estimates for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland show the employment rate had decreased over the year while the unemployment and economic inactivity rates had increased.

In Scotland in January to December 2024:

• the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 55.0 per cent
• the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 10.4 per cent
• the estimated economic inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 38.6 per cent

Compared with the previous year:

• the employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds decreased by 1.0 percentage point
• the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds increased by 0.5 percentage points
• the inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds increased by 0.7 percentage points

Compared with the United Kingdom as a whole:

• the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was higher (55.0 per cent compared to 51.4 per cent)
• the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was lower (10.4 per cent compared to 12.1 per cent)
• the estimated inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was lower (38.6 per cent compared to 41.6 per cent)

Estimates by sex and local authority are not included in this publication due to findings from our quality assessment of the APS. This is due to increased uncertainty around the survey estimates. While estimates remain robust for headline measures at Scotland level, an increasing number of estimates for smaller groups of the population are based on a small sample size which should be used with caution.

All the estimates contained within this publication remain robust under our current data quality rules.

Further information on the quality of the APS estimates can be found in our recent Scottish Government’s Quality Assessment of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey data for Scotland report (see Annex 2 of the paper for more details on the 16 to 24 year old publication).

Based on the data confidence ratings we considered as part of our quality assessment of the APS data, we have “limited confidence” in the unemployment estimates for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland. Limited confidence indicates an estimate provides a restricted view on reality. It should be considered alongside other more reliable indicators and limitations must be understood before drawing conclusions or making decisions.

For all other estimates included in this publication, we have “high confidence”. High confidence indicates an estimate can be used to draw accurate conclusions and there is substantial trust in the information presented, which is likely to provide a good reflection of reality.