Labour Market Trends: October 2025

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


Employment estimates

The estimated employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 years in Scotland was 74.3% in June to August 2025. This is 0.6 percentage points down over the quarter but 1.1 percentage points up over the year.

The estimated UK employment rate was 75.1% in June to August 2025. This is 0.2 percentage points down on the quarter but 0.1 percentage points up over the year.

Chart 6: The employment rate for Scotland was lower than the UK

Employment rates for persons aged 16 to 64, Scotland and the UK, January to March 2019 through to June to August 2025

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

Source: Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, ONS

Chart 7: Scotland had the 2nd highest employment rate across the countries of the UK

Employment rate and annual change for persons aged 16 to 64, UK countries, June to August 2025 compared to June to August 2024.

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

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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