Labour Market Trends: July 2022

19th July 2022

Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity trends, sourced from the Labour Force Survey for Scotland and the UK.

Key points
Labour Force Survey estimates are presented for March to May 2022, compared with the quarter before (December 2021 to February 2022) and pre-pandemic (December 2019 to February 2020). Please note percentage point changes are based on unrounded data.

 The latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for March to May 2022 indicate that over the quarter, the unemployment rate increased slightly, while the employment rate increased and economic inactivity rate decreased.

 The estimated unemployment rate (16+) in Scotland was 3.5 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) but up 0.1 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 3.8 per cent.

 The estimated employment rate (the proportion of people aged 16-64 in work) in Scotland was 75.4 per cent, up 0.1 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and up 0.6 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's employment rate was below the UK rate of 75.9 per cent.

 The estimated economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work) in Scotland was 21.8 per cent, up 0.1 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) but down 0.6 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's economic inactivity rate was above the UK rate of 21.1 per cent.

 Early seasonally adjusted estimates for June 2022 from HMRC Pay As You Earn Real Time Information indicate that there were 2.42 million payrolled employees in Scotland, an increase of 1.5 per cent (37,000) compared with February 2020 (pre-pandemic). This compares with the UK where the number of payrolled employees has increased by 1.9 per cent over the same period.

 The experimental Claimant Count includes Jobseeker's Allowance Claimants and those claimants of Universal Credit who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed. In June 2022, there were 110,600 claimants in Scotland, a decrease of 500 (0.4 per cent) since March 2020 (pre-pandemic) and a decrease of 4,400 (3.8 per cent) over the month. The claimant count rate in June 2022 was 3.6 per cent, compared with 3.9 per cent for the UK as a whole.

 Early seasonally adjusted estimates for June 2022 from HMRC Pay As You Earn Real Time Information indicate that median monthly pay for payrolled employees in Scotland was £2,126, an increase of 13.2 per cent compared with February 2020 (pre-pandemic). This is lower than the growth in median monthly pay for the UK over the same period (13.4 per cent). Changes over time are based on median monthly pay estimates rounded to the nearest pound.

Read the full report HERE
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