BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 73

This is the 57th publication of weighted Scotland estimates from the ONS’ BICS. These are experimental statistics, which means that they are still in development. All results are provisional and subject to revision.

Latest main findings for businesses with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland

• in the period 28 December 2022 to 8 January 2023 (Wave 73), 33.6% of businesses reported experiencing a shortage of workers - rising to 58.1% in the Accommodation & Food Services sector and 57.4% in the Arts, Entertainment & Recreation sector
• in Wave 73, 67.6% of businesses reported that the shortage of workers has resulted in employees working increased hours
• in Wave 73, 24.0% of applicable businesses reported that they had been affected by industrial action in December 2022
• in Wave 73, the main concerns for businesses for February 2023 were energy prices (32.4%) and inflation of goods and services prices (21.0%)
• of businesses currently trading that have exported in the last 12 months, 22.8% reported exporting less in December 2022 compared to December 2021, and 16.2% reported exporting more
• the exporting and importing challenges that were most commonly reported to have increased in December 2022 compared to November 2022 were additional paperwork, changes in transportation costs, changes in exchange rates

Note that the Wave 73 response rate was lower than usual because of the Christmas period, bank holidays and the survey being live for a shorter period of time. This means that the estimates in this release are subject to more uncertainty than usual.