18th February 2026
Scotland's overall job market is relatively stronger than the UK average, with lower unemployment for all ages and reasonably high employment rates.
Youth unemployment in Scotland is lower than the UK average, with past estimates showing roughly ~10-11% for 16–24-year-olds — notably less severe than recent UK youth joblessness figures near ~14–16%.
However, young people in Scotland still face significant labour market challenges, especially in securing stable work and transitioning from education to employment, and data for youth employment is limited and less precise than UK-wide figures.
Overall Scottish Labour Market
In the latest official Labour Market Trends for Scotland (October–December 2025), the **unemployment rate for all age groups (16+) in Scotland was 3.8%, well below the UK rate of ~5.2%.
Scotland’s employment rate was around 74.8%, slightly below the UK average but still high.
Economic inactivity (people not working or seeking work) remains higher in Scotland than the UK average.
These figures suggest that Scotland’s overall labour market has been holding up relatively well compared with the UK as a whole — although inactivity is still elevated.
Youth (16–24) Unemployment in Scotland
The most recent official dedicated youth unemployment statistics come from annual surveys and show that the youth unemployment rate in Scotland was around ~10–11% in recent published estimates (e.g., data covering up to late 2024 or mid-2025).
This rate is noticeably lower than the UK average youth unemployment, which has recently been reported around ~14–16% for 16–24-year-olds.
In Scotland, the employment rate for young people has tended to be higher and the unemployment rate lower than the UK, though data for Scotland’s youth employment is less frequently updated and often based on surveys with smaller sample sizes.
In other words Scotland does not seem to be experiencing a youth jobs crisis that is as severe as the wider UK overall, even though the UK’s latest data points to some of the highest youth unemployment outside the pandemic period.
Why the Difference?
There are several factors that may help explain why Scotland’s youth employment situation looks somewhat less bleak than the UK trend:
Lower overall unemployment
Scotland’s general unemployment rate has remained lower than the UK average, suggesting a relatively tighter jobs market.
Youth unemployment data volatility
Official age-specific estimates for Scotland are based on smaller sample surveys, which makes short-term changes harder to interpret and less precise — but the direction of the trend (lower than UK youth unemployment) remains consistent.
Labour market policy and training
Scottish programmes focused on skills, employability and vocational pathways have been highlighted in some analyses as part of the effort to support youth employment, which could help explain relatively stronger outcomes.
But Challenges Remain
Even though Scotland’s youth unemployment rate seems lower than the wider UK:
Young people still face significant barriers — job entry remains challenging, particularly in entry-level sectors, and many young Scots are economically inactive (not working, not studying, and not seeking work).
Labour market conditions are weak across the UK and rising unemployment nationally and in key sectors can still affect opportunities in Scotland too.
Scotland’s youth labour data lags official UK figures, so the most recent UK-wide youth unemployment surge (14–16%) doesn’t yet have an exact Scotland equivalent in published ONS statistics.