BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 74

This is the 58th 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 Wave 74, 45.9% of applicable businesses reported difficulties in recruiting employees in December 2022. The highest rate of recruitment difficulties was reported by businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services (63.4%) industry sector
• in Wave 74, 45.4% of businesses reported that the prices of materials, goods or services bought in December 2022 had increased from the previous calendar month. In contrast, only 17.2% of businesses reported that they had increased the price of goods or services sold
• the industry sectors with the highest proportion of businesses reporting increases in prices of materials, goods and services bought were Accommodation & Food Services (66.0%) and Wholesale, Retail & Repair of Vehicles (52.0%)
• in Wave 74, over half (50.8%) of applicable businesses reported that they had been affected by the recent increase in energy prices in some way
• almost one quarter (23.7%) of businesses reported that their turnover had increased in December 2022 compared to the previous calendar month. Whereas 28.4% of businesses reported that their turnover had decreased over this period – rising to 49.2% of businesses in the Administrative & Support Services industry sector