Scotland's Labour Market Trends December 2022

13th December 2022

Labour Force Survey estimates are presented for August to October 2022, compared with the quarter before (May to July 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 August to October 2022 indicate that over the quarter the unemployment rate increased, while the employment rate increased and the inactivity rate decreased.

• the estimated unemployment rate (16+) in Scotland was 3.3 per cent, down 0.5 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) but up 0.2 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 3.7 per cent.

• the estimated employment rate (the proportion of people aged 16-64 in work) in Scotland was 75.9 per cent, up 0.6 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and up 0.7 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's employment rate was above the UK rate of 75.6 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 21.4 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points since December 2019-February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and down 0.9 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland's economic inactivity rate was slightly below the UK rate of
21.5 per cent.

• early seasonally adjusted estimates for November 2022 from HMRC Pay As You Earn Real Time Information indicate that there were 2.44 million payrolled employees in Scotland, an increase of 2.5 per cent (59,000) compared with February 2020 (pre-pandemic). This compares with the UK where the number of payrolled employees has increased by 3.2 per cent over the same period.

• early seasonally adjusted estimates for November 2022 from HMRC Pay As You Earn Real Time Information indicate that median monthly pay for payrolled employees in Scotland was £2,213, an increase of 18.1 per cent compared with February 2020 (pre-pandemic). This is higher than the growth in median monthly pay for the UK over the same period (17.3 per cent).

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

Note to read the report in full go HERE