Scottish economic bulletin: December 2024

Output

The economy continued to grow in the third quarter of the year, though at a slower pace than in recent months.

• Scotland’s economic output grew 0.3% in the three months to September (UK: 0.1%), continuing the current period of positive quarterly growth in 2024 and with output growing 0.9% over the past year (UK: 1.0%).^[1]
• The pace of growth rose from the three months to August (0.1%), partly reflecting a pick-up in growth in the month of September, however, more broadly the pace of growth has slowed compared to the first half of the year, when the economy was recovering from a fall in the last quarter of 2023.

• Growth over the quarter was supported by a pick-up in growth in the services sector (0.5%, up from 0.3% in the second quarter), while construction output grew 0.8% (up from -0.2%). Growth in both these sectors offset a 0.8% fall in production sector output in which output has fallen in recent months and weakened from 1.1% growth in the second quarter.
• Within the services sector, growth was relatively broad based across service industries with strongest growth in accommodation and food services (2.7%), arts, culture and recreation (2.4%) and professional, scientific, and technical services (2.1%). Over the past year, the service sector has grown 1.5% and has been a key driver of growth in the economy.
• Within the production sector, the fall in output in the 3-months to September was broad based across production industries in which manufacturing output fell by 0.5%, down from 1.5% growth in the second quarter. Compared to the 3-months to September in 2023, production output has fallen 1.7% over the past year (manufacturing: -1.4%) while construction output has fallen 1.3%.