Scottish Government

Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 2003

chapter seven: Labour Market

This chapter presents information on Scotland's labour market based on results from the Labour Force Survey. It should be noted that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) data used in this chapter is weighted using pre 2001 Census population estimates. The LFS will be adjusted to take account of the information from the 2001 Census in August 2003 at which time the data will be subject to revisions.

A traditional view of employment would be of work in farming, forestry, fishing, crofting, and tourism in rural areas. In the cities and towns of Scotland, in manufacturing and the service sectors are the main employers. Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, is one of the world's major financial centres, with many employed both directly in that sector and in the services which support it.

In 2001, the Rural Development Committee of the Scottish Parliament published a Report on the Impact of Changing Employment Patterns in Rural Scotland. It noted:

• Employment in most rural sectors is in decline, the traditional industries which are the mainstay of rural life face a particular challenge. Rural areas are under-represented in all the key growth areas in the Scottish economy: banking and finance, high technology manufacturing, ICT services, and research and development.
• Within rural areas, the most obvious manifestation of changing patterns of demand has been the growth of the service sector and the relative decline of more traditional manufacturing sectors and agriculture.

The results within this chapter are based on where people live rather than where people work. It should also be noted that results from the Transport chapter show that people living in accessible small towns and accessible rural areas tend to commute longer distances.

The working age population

In the first half of 2002, results from the LFS show that there were just over 3.2 million people of working age in Scotland. As already stated, the data used in this chapter is weighted using pre 2001 Census population estimates. Of these, 1.2 million lived in large urban areas and a further million in other urban areas. Slightly more than half (52 per cent) of the population of working age was male. There was little variation by area type (no table).

Nearly one in five of the working age population in the first half of 2002 had some kind of disability. Around two thirds of these had a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (that is, a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities) which also limited their ability to work. The percentage of the working age population with a current disability varied from 20.7 per cent in urban areas to 14.5 per cent in rural areas (Table 7.1).

Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of the Scottish population of working age had a health problem which had lasted more than a year. This proportion was slightly higher in urban areas (28 per cent) and slightly lower in rural areas (20 per cent) (no table).

The population of working age in large urban areas was the most highly qualified. One in five had a qualification at degree level or above and 3 in 5 had at least 3 or more Highers. However, one in six had no qualifications. The percentage of the working age population with no qualifications was lowest, at 13 per cent, in accessible rural areas, which also had a high percentage, at 19 per cent, with qualification at degree level or above. Fewer than one in ten of the working age population in remote small towns had a qualification at degree level or above, and just over half had at least 3 Highers (Chart 7.2).

Source: Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey
Note: excludes those whose qualifications were unknown

Fifteen per cent of the population of working age was currently studying or working towards a qualification. There was little variation between areas (no table). One in ten of the working age population had taken part in leisure or education classes during the previous 4 weeks: again, there was little variation between areas (no table).

Economic activity

In Scotland as a whole, 21.2 per cent of the population of working age was economically inactive (those neither in employment nor unemployed). The main reasons for being economically inactive are long term sickness or disability and looking after family. The percentage economically inactive varied from 23.3 per cent in large urban areas to 16.7 per cent in remote rural areas.

The employment rate gives the number of people who are in employment as a proportion of the total population of working age. The Scottish employment rate was 73.4 per cent, with the lowest rate, 70.9 per cent, in large urban areas, and the highest, 78.4 per cent, in remote rural areas.

The unemployment rate gives the number of people who are unemployed as a proportion of the number of economically active. The unemployment rate was lowest, at 4.0 per cent, in remote small towns.

Men were more likely than women to be economically active - in Scotland, 82.3 per cent of men of working age were economically active, compared to 75.1 per cent of women. The difference in economic activity rates for men and women was greater in rural areas.

The employment rate for men was also higher than that for women, and the difference between the rates was greater in rural areas.

The unemployment rate for Scotland was lower for women (5.6 per cent) than for men (7.9 per cent). There was less difference between the rates for men and women in rural areas than in urban areas or small towns.

Over 660,000 people of working age who were economically inactive were not seeking work. A third of these would have liked to work. This proportion was lower in rural (28 per cent) than in urban areas (34 per cent) and small towns (36 per cent). The proportion of those who would have liked to work who gave long-term sickness or disability as their reason for not seeking work was lower in rural areas.

Of the 440,000 people of working age who were economically inactive and would not have liked to work, 168,500 gave long-term sickness or disability as their reason. This was just over one in 5 of all those economically inactive and not seeking work. The proportion was lower in rural areas (18 per cent). A further 103,300 (16 per cent) said they would not have liked to work because they were looking after the family or home. This percentage was lower in urban areas (14 per cent) and higher in small towns (19 per cent) and rural areas (20 per cent). (Table 7.5).

People of working age in rural areas who were unemployed tended to have been unemployed for longer - 43 per cent had been unemployed for 6 months or more, compared to 39 per cent in urban areas (no table).

Employment

In the first half of 2002, over 2.3 million people in Scotland were in employment. This included 215,000 (9.2 per cent) who were self employed. The remaining 2.1 million people included government trainees and family workers. The percentage of those in employment that was self-employed varied from 7.5 per cent in urban areas to 16.7 per cent in remote rural areas.

Around 6 per cent of employees were in a job which was not permanent in some way. There was little variation by type of area (no table).

More than four in ten women of working age in employment worked part-time, compared to fewer than one in ten men. The percentage of women working part-time was higher in remote small towns and remote rural areas, where more than half of women in employment worked part-time. The pro-portion of men working part-time ranged from 5.7 per cent in accessible rural areas to 10.1 per cent in remote small towns (Table 7.7).

In Scotland some 12 per cent of people in employment work from home, and more people work from home in accessible rural (18 per cent) and remote rural (24 per cent) areas. Taking account of those people working in the Agriculture and Fishing Sector, there is still a higher proportion of those in accessible and remote rural areas who are home based workers compared to other areas. Work from home includes those working in their own home, in the same grounds or buildings as home or in a different place but using their home as a base (no table).

The main job of just under 10 per cent of the population of working age who were in employment in rural areas was in the Agriculture & Fishing, or Energy & Water sectors (with 6 per cent in Agriculture and Fishing). This was nearly twice the proportion for small towns and nearly 4 times the proportion for urban areas. The percentage whose main job was in manufacturing was highest in small towns (15.1 per cent) and lowest in rural area (11.4 per cent). The percentage whose main job was in Banking, finance & insurance etc was higher in urban areas (16.3 per cent) and lowest in rural areas (11.0 per cent). There was little difference between areas for other sectors, such as Public administration, education and health (Table 7.8)

Workers in rural areas tended to have been working longer for their current employer - 52 per cent of those in rural areas had worked for their current employer for 5 years or more, compared to 48 per cent in urban areas (no table).

References

Scottish Economic Statistics 2002, Scottish Executive, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/ses2002/ses2-00m.asp

Labour Market Statistics, January 2003: Scotland, Office for National Statistics, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/lmsscot0103.pdf

Disability Discrimination Act 1995,http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/Ukpga-19950050-en-1.htm

Report on the Impact of Changing Employment Patterns in Rural Scotland, January 2001, Rural Development Committee, Scottish Parliament http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/official-report/cttee/rural-01/rar01-01-v01-02.htm#02

Rural Development Lessons from the North, Scotland, How can rural communities use IT for their own development?, 2001, Kate Anderson, Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research, University of Aberdeen http://www.abdn.ac.uk/arkleton/npp/pdf/scotland4.pdf

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