Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture, 2016

7. Labour and Machinery

7.1 Overview of labour ( Tables C19, C21(i), C21(ii))

There were a total of 65,400 people working on agricultural holdings at 1 June 2015. This was made up of 25,700 working occupiers (comprising 39 per cent of the total workforce), 12,300 working spouses (19 per cent), 13,300 full time regular staff (20 per cent), 7,300 part time regular staff (11 per cent) and 6,800 casual and seasonal staff (ten per cent).

Over half of the total agricultural workforce was located in either Grampian (10,600 or 16 per cent), Highland (9,700 or 15 per cent), Tayside (8,400 or 13 per cent) or Dumfries and Galloway (6,800 or ten per cent). These totals represent the number of people employed or working on 1 June 2015, but do not take into account differing working patterns or seasonal labour.

Chart 7.1: Distribution of the workforce by sub-region, June 2015

Map 12 illustrates the employment rates by local authority (number of people employed in agriculture as a percentage of people employed in the area), showing highest levels of employment in agriculture in Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney and Shetland. In addition, there is also a clear split between local authorities within and outwith the central belt, demonstrating the relative importance of agriculture in terms of employment among these regions.

Map 12: Agriculture employment rates by local authority, 2015