BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 93

Recruitment

In Wave 93, businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked if they had experienced any difficulties recruiting employees in September 2023.

Figure 1: Difficulties in recruiting employees had been experienced by an estimated 40.8% of applicable businesses. The highest rate of recruitment difficulties was reported by businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services industry sector (41.1%).

Estimated share of businesses by whether they experienced recruitment difficulties. Applicable businesses not permanently stopped trading - with 10+ employees and a presence in Scotland. Wave 93 – September 2023.

Source: BICS Weighted Scotland Estimates - Wave 93 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 1 data see table 2 in ‘RecruitDifficulties’.

Of those businesses having had recruitment difficulties, 55.4% reported a lack of qualified applicants for the roles on offer, and 50.2% reported having a low number of applications for the roles on offer. An estimated 14.5% of businesses having had recruitment difficulties reported that this was due to a reduced number of EU applicants, with this share rising to 46.0% in the Administration & Support Services industry sector and 30.2% in the Accommodation and Food Services industry sector.