BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 121

Recruitment

In Wave 121 (18 November to 1 December 2024), businesses were asked about the types of employees that have been difficult to recruit in October 2024 – the specific question asked is shown below.

Recruitment Difficulty Type question: Which of the following employees, if any, did your business have difficulties recruiting in October 2024?

• clerical employees
• professional or managerial employees
• semi-skilled or unskilled employees
• skilled, manual or technical employees
• other
• not sure
• business did not experience any difficulties in recruiting employees

Figure 1: An estimated 16.9% of businesses had difficulties recruiting ‘Skilled, manual or technical’ employees in October 2024, and 14.5% had difficulty recruiting 'Semi-skilled or unskilled' employees. However, 51.9% of businesses did not experience difficulties recruiting employees.

Estimated share of businesses by recruitment difficulty. Businesses not permanently stopped trading, with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland. Wave 121 – October 2024.

Source: BICS Weighted Scotland Estimates - Wave 121 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 1 data see table ‘RecruitDiffType’.

In Wave 121, businesses who experienced recruitement difficulties, were asked about the reasons for this.

Figure 2: The most common reason for recruitment difficulties in October 2024 was a lack of qualified applicants for the roles on offer. 48.6% of businesses with recruitment difficulties had this issue. The next most common reason was that there was a low number of applicants for the roles on offer (37.5%).

Estimated share of businesses by reason for recruitment difficulty. Businesses not permanently stopped trading and exerpienced recruitment difficulties, with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland. Wave 121 – October 2024.

Source: BICS Weighted Scotland Estimates - Wave 121 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 2 data see table ‘RecruitYDiff’.