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Publication - Statistics

Scotland's Labour Market Overview: December 2023

Published
19 December 2023
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Part of
Business, industry and innovation, Economy, Work and skills

Summary of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity estimates sourced from a range of official labour market statistics for Scotland and the UK.

This document is part of a collection

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Economic inactivity

Economic inactivity measures those who are neither in work, available for work or actively seeking work. The adjusted experimental economic inactivity rate for Scotland had been decreasing over time before increasing following the 2008 recession. The inactivity rate increased following the start of the coronavirus pandemic and remained fairly constant until 2021 before decreasing through 2022. The inactivity rate had returned to pre-pandemic rates during 2022 but has been increasing during 2023.

Figure 17: Adjusted experimental economic inactivity rate for Scotland (22.6 per cent) in August to October 2023 is higher than the UK (20.9 per cent) for the same period

Adjusted experimental economic inactivity rates for persons aged 16 to 64, Scotland and the UK, November to January 1997 to August to October 2023

Figure 17: A time-series chart showing adjusted experimental economic inactivity rates for Scotland and the UK from 1997 onwards. The rates are steadily decreasing over time.

Source: Labour Force Survey from ONS, PAYE RTI from HMRC and Claimant Count from ONS, seasonally adjusted

Sex

The ONS adjusted experimental economic inactivity rates are not published by sex. Therefore, the information in this section covers ONS Labour Force Survey data to April to June 2023.

The inactivity rate for men in Scotland has typically been above the inactivity rate for men in the UK. In April to June 2023, the estimated inactivity rate for men in Scotland (19.9 per cent) was higher than the rate for the UK (16.9 per cent).

The inactivity rate for women in Scotland has typically been below the inactivity rate for women in the UK. From 2017, the inactivity rates for women in Scotland and the UK have been similar, except for the period between January to March 2022 until February to April 2023. In April to June 2023, the estimated inactivity rate for women in Scotland (25.2 per cent) was higher than the rate for the UK (24.8 per cent).

Figure 18: Economic Inactivity rate for men in Scotland in April to June 2023 was 3.0 percentage points higher than the inactivity rate for men in the UK, while the inactivity rates for women in Scotland and the UK are similar

Economic Inactivity rates for persons aged 16 to 64 by sex, Scotland and the UK, November to January 1997 to April to June 2023

Figure 18: A time-series chart showing economic inactivity rates by sex for Scotland and the UK from 1997 onwards. The economic inactivity rates for women are initially much higher than the rates for men. The inactivity rates for men are increasing slightly over the period while the rate for women has been gradually decreasing, leading to a narrowing of the gap between the inactivity rates for men and women.

Source: Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, ONS

Age

Economic inactivity in Scotland varies by age group. As may be expected the younger and older age groups have higher inactivity rates.

Since October 2011 to September 2012, the inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds has been consistently higher than the inactivity rate for any other age group. This is due to higher numbers of people aged 16 to 24 being in education.

The inactivity rates for 25 to 34 year olds and 35 to 49 year olds have been fairly constant across the series. The estimated inactivity rate for 25 to 34 year olds was 13.3 per cent in October 2022 to September 2023. The estimated inactivity rate for 35 to 49 year olds was also 13.3 per cent in October 2022 to September 2023.

The estimated inactivity rate for those aged 50 to 64 had gradually decreased until October 2014 to September 2015 but has remained relatively constant since then.

Figure 19: Economic inactivity rate for those aged 16 to 24 in Scotland has been higher than any other age group since October 2011 to September 2012

Economic Inactivity rates for persons aged 16 to 64 by age group, Scotland, year ending September 2005 to year ending September 2023

Figure 19: A time-series chart of economic inactivity rates in Scotland separated by age groups from October 2004 to September 2005 onwards. 16 to 24 year olds and 50 to 64 year olds have higher inactivity rates than the other age groups. The inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds has been gradually increasing over time while the inactivity rate for 50 to 64 year olds had gradually decreased until October 2014 to September 2015 but has remained relatively constant since then.

Source: Annual Population Survey, Oct-Sep datasets, ONS

Reasons for inactivity

In Scotland, the main reason given for being inactive was “long-term sick”. In October 2022 to September 2023, 31.7 per cent of those people aged 16 to 64 who were inactive gave their reason for being inactive as “long-term sick”.

The proportion of the inactive population who were “long-term sick” had been gradually decreasing over time. However, this proportion has been increasing in recent years. The second most common reason for being inactive was due to being a student (24.9 per cent in October 2022 to September 2023) which had gradually been increasing over time but has remained relatively constant in recent years. The proportion of inactive people who were “looking after family / home” has been gradually decreasing over time.

Figure 20: Proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who are inactive and gave their reason for being inactive as long-term sick had generally been decreasing over time while the proportion of students had been gradually increasing. However, since October 2017 to September 2018, the proportion of students was relatively constant while long-term sick had been gradually increasing

Economic Inactivity for persons aged 16 to 64 by reason for inactivity, Scotland, year ending September 2005 to year ending September 2023

Figure 20: A time-series chart of reasons for economic inactivity in Scotland from October 2004 to September 2005 onwards. Across most of the time series, the main reason reported for being inactive was long-term sickness. The proportion of the inactive population who were “long-term sick” had been gradually decreasing over time. However, this proportion has been increasing in recent years.

Source: Annual Population Survey, Oct-Sep datasets, ONS

Note: ‘Other’ reason for being inactive includes those who are discouraged.

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
Telephone: 0131 244 6773,
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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