BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 121

Employment Contract

In Wave 121 businesses that had not permanently stopped trading were asked whether they employed anyone on any of the following types of contract:

• agency contract
• casual contract
• fixed term contract
• minimum hours contract
• seasonal contract
• variable hours contract
• zero hours contract

More than half of businesses (57.4%) used these types of contracts. Large businesses (250 or more employees) were more likely to employ people on these types of contracts than small to medium-sized businesses (10 to 249 employees). An estimated 80.6% of large businesses used these types of contract, compared to an estimated 54.8% of small to medium-sized businesses.

Fixed term contracts (22.4% of businesses) and agency contracts (21.9% of businesses) were the most common types of contracts used. This varied by sector however, for example, in Accommodation & Food Services variable hours contracts were the most common type (used by 42.0% of businesses in the sector).

Data on employment contract can be found in the ‘EmploymentContract’ table in the BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 121- tables – time series Excel workbook in the ‘Supporting documents’ section.