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

Economic Inactivity

In October 2023 to September 2024, there were an estimated 208,600 economically inactive 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland. This is 4,100 higher than the number of inactive 16 to 24 year olds in October 2022 to September 2023.

The estimated inactivity rate was 37.6 per cent in October 2023 to September 2024. This was 0.6 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (37.0 per cent) and 2.5 pp higher than in October 2018 to September 2019 (35.0 per cent). October 2018 to September 2019 is the last data point in the October to September series before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the United Kingdom, the estimated inactivity rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 41.3 per cent. This was 1.6 pp higher than a year ago (39.7 per cent) and 2.5 pp higher than in October 2018 to September 2019 (38.8 per cent).

The change over the year and since October 2018 to September 2019 for 16 to 24 year olds in the United Kingdom represent statistically significant changes.

Chart 5: The gap between the economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 24 in Scotland and the United Kingdom has typically been narrowing over time with the rate for Scotland lower than the rate for the United Kingdom in all years except October 2019 to September 2020

Economic inactivity rate estimates for persons aged 16 to 24, Scotland and the United Kingdom, October 2004 to September 2005 through to October 2023 to September 2024

Source: Annual Population Survey, October to September datasets, ONS

Shaded areas represent 95 percent confidence intervals.