Work and Worklessness among Households in Scotland 2009

Aims of Report

This is the first Scottish Government publication on Work and Worklessness among households in Scotland and it aims to provide information on the following:

• the distribution of working age households by economic activity across local authority areas;
• the number of children living in workless households ( i.e. where no working age adult is in work) across local authority areas;
• comparisons between Scotland and UK;

All analyses in this publication are based on data from the Annual Population Survey ( APS) household datasets which are designed specifically to provide labour market statistics at the household and family level. The APS combines results from the Labour Force Survey ( LFS) and Labour Force Survey boosts. More information about the LFS, APS and household datasets are available from the LFS User Guides ¹.

This publication includes high level comparisons between the UK and Scotland using the APS household datasets over the period 2004 to 2008, covering the period January to December each year. The APS household datasets are the recommended source for local area household analysis because they have larger sample sizes. More detailed up to date comparisons across Government Office Regions are available from the quarterly LFS household datasets, although the quarterly LFS household datasets have smaller sample sizes so cannot be used to monitor trends below Scotland-level. Analysis from the LFS April-June 2009 household dataset is available from the Office for National Statistics Statistical ( ONS) Bulletin ².

As data is based on survey data the estimates are subject to a degree of sampling error and this should be taken into account when making comparisons over time or across areas. Annex A provides more information.

This publication is aimed at a range of users with an interest in either the labour market or social justice. Web Tables will also be published alongside this publication. Further data or analysis is available on request, please contact labour-market.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.