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Publication - Statistics

Labour Market Trends: August 2026

Published
18 August 2026
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Topic
Business, industry and innovation, Economy, Work and skills

Trends in Labour Market indicators from HMRC PAYE RTI, Claimant count, and ONS Labour Force Survey data covering Scotland and the UK.

Part of

Supporting documents

HMRC earnings

This information is based on monthly estimates of paid employees and their pay from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data.

Changes over time are based on median monthly pay estimates which are rounded to the nearest pound.

The latest early estimates for July 2026 indicate that median monthly pay for payrolled employees in Scotland was £2,687, an increase of 4.3% in nominal terms compared to the same period the previous year. This is slightly higher than the annual growth in median monthly pay for payrolled employees in the UK over the same period (4.2%).

Chart 3: Median pay for payrolled employees in Scotland continues to be above the UK estimate. This has been the case in all but two months since the series began in July 2014

Median Monthly Pay, Scotland and UK, June 2016 to July 2026, seasonally adjusted

Time series line chart showing estimated nominal median monthly pay for Scotland and the United Kingdom as separate lines.

Source: PAYE RTI, all industries, seasonally adjusted, HMRC

Note: Early estimates for July 2026 are provided to give an indication of the likely level of payrolled employees as well as their median pay in the latest period. The figures for July 2026 are based on around 85% of information being available. They are considered of lower quality and may be subject to revision in next month's release when between 98% to 99% of data will be available.

Chart 4: Annual Growth in the median monthly pay for payrolled employees in both Scotland and the UK is volatile but it has typically been trending downwards since August 2025

Annual Percentage Change in Median Monthly Pay, Scotland and UK, June 2017 to July 2026

Line chart showing a time series of annual change median monthly pay for Scotland and the United Kingdom as separate lines.

Source: PAYE RTI, all industries, seasonally adjusted, HMRC

Note: Early estimates for July 2026 are provided to give an indication of the likely level of payrolled employees as well as their median pay in the latest period. The figures for July 2026 are based on around 85% of information being available. They are considered of lower quality and may be subject to revision in next month's release when between 98% to 99% of data will be available

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
E-mail: LMStats@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician
E-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

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