Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom - January to December 2023

Employment

Overall

In January to December 2023, an estimated 309,400 people aged 16 to 24 were in employment in Scotland. This is 9,300 less than the number of 16 to 24 year olds employed in 2022.

The estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 55.9 per cent in 2023. This was 2.0 percentage points (pp) lower than the year before (57.9 per cent) and 1.9 pp lower than in 2019 (57.9 per cent). January to December 2019 is the last data point in the January to December series before the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the United Kingdom as a whole, the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 54.0 per cent. This was 0.3 pp higher than a year ago (53.7 per cent) but 0.1 pp lower than in 2019 (54.1 per cent).

Chart 1: The employment rate for people aged 16 to 24 in Scotland has exceeded the United Kingdom rate in all years except for 2020

Employment rate estimates for persons aged 16 to 24, Scotland and the United Kingdom, January to December 2004 through to January to December 2023

Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December datasets, ONS

Shaded areas represent 95 percent confidence intervals.

Employment by Sex

In January to December 2023, an estimated 153,300 men and 156,100 women aged 16 to 24 were in employment in Scotland.

The estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year old men was 55.2 per cent, 0.1 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (55.1 per cent) and 2.2 pp lower than in 2019 (57.4 per cent). While the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year old women was 56.7 per cent, 4.1 pp lower than a year ago (60.8 per cent) and 1.7 pp lower than in 2019 (58.4 per cent).

Chart 2: The employment rate for women aged 16 to 24 was consistently lower than for men until 2014 when it began to fluctuate but since 2021 the employment rate of women has been consistently higher than for men

Employment rate estimates for men and women aged 16 to 24 in Scotland, January to December 2004 through to January to December 2023

Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December datasets, ONS

Shaded areas represent 95 per cent confidence intervals.

Employment by Local Authority areas

Estimates by local authority are not included in this publication this quarter. See Introduction for further details.