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Publication - Statistics

Labour Market Trends: December 2025

Published
16 December 2025
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

Unemployment estimates

The estimated unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and over in Scotland was 3.8% in August to October 2025. This is 0.3 percentage points up over the quarter and 0.2 percentage points up over the year.

The estimated UK unemployment rate was 5.1% in August to October 2025. This is 0.4 percentage points up on the quarter and 0.8 percentage points up over the year.

Chart 8: The unemployment rate for Scotland was lower than the UK in August to October 2025

Unemployment rates for persons aged 16 and over, Scotland and the UK, January to March 2019 to August to October 2025

Time series line chart showing estimated unemployment rates for Scotland and the United Kingdom as separate lines.

Source: Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, ONS

Chart 9: Scotland had the 2nd lowest unemployment rate across the countries of the UK in August to October 2025

Unemployment Rate and annual change for persons aged 16 and over, UK countries, August to October 2025 compared to August to October 2024

Horizontal bar chart showing the unemployment rate of UK countries. The bars, in order of decreasing unemployment rate, are Wales, England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Source: Labour Force Survey, ONS

Note: Annual change shown in percentage points

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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