Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom - April 2023 to March 2024

This publication contains the latest estimates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity for 16 to 24 year olds. Estimates are for Scotland and the United Kingdom and cover the period April 2023 to March 2024. Data are sourced from the Annual Population Survey (APS), first released on 12 June 2024 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS Annual Population Survey is the Accredited Official Statistics source for labour market indicators by region and age. Accredited Official Statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

APS estimates remain Accredited Official Statistics at this time. However, ONS are currently carrying out analysis to assess the impact of falling sample sizes on the quality of APS estimates.

Key points

The latest ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) data are for April 2023 to March 2024. The latest estimates for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland show the unemployment rate had increased over the year, the employment rate had decreased, and the economic inactivity rate had increased.

In Scotland in April 2023 to March 2024:

• the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 54.1 per cent
• the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 11.0 per cent
• the estimated economic inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 39.2 per cent

Compared with the previous year:

• the employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds decreased by 2.8 percentage points
• the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds increased by 1.4 percentage points
• the inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds increased by 2.2 percentage points

Compared with the United Kingdom as a whole:

• the employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was higher (54.1 per cent compared to 53.0 per cent)
• the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was lower (11.0 per cent compared to 11.3 per cent)
• the inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was lower (39.2 per cent compared to 40.3 per cent)

Comparing men and women aged 16 to 24 years in Scotland:

• the estimated employment rate for men was lower than women (53.6 per cent compared to 54.6 per cent)
• the estimated unemployment rate for men was higher than women (12.2 per cent compared to 9.7 per cent)
• the estimated economic inactivity rate for men was lower than women (38.9 per cent compared to 39.5 per cent)

The estimated unemployment rate for women aged 16 to 24 years is from a small sample size. This estimate should be used with caution.

Estimates by local authority are not included in the commentary of this publication this quarter, although these estimates are provided in tables 8 and 9. This is due to increasing uncertainty around the survey estimates. While estimates remain robust for headline measures at Scotland level, an increasing number of estimates at local authority level are based on a small sample size which should be used with caution.