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Indicators of progress: Definitions, data, baseline and trends information
COMMUNITIES
Milestone 24: Reducing the gap in unemployment rates between the worst areas and the average rate for Scotland
Indicators
This milestone is measured by information from a single derived indicator. The sources of the information for the indicator are the claimant count figures from the Office for National Statistics and the number of economically active residents estimated from the General Register for Scotland population census.
The unemployment rate has been calculated by dividing the number of claimant unemployed by the number of economically active residents. The 'worst areas' have been defined as the 10 percent of wards from the 1991 Census which are have the highest claimant unemployment rates in Scotland. The 1991 wards have been frozen over time to give a consistent regional basis. The unemployment figures are the average of 12 monthly figures. The economically active figures from the census have been pro-rated to ensure consistency with previously published national figures.
Unemployment rate
Chart 24a shows the relationship between the Scotland average and the average of the worst 10 percent of wards. The long term trend for both the Scotland average and the worst areas is of decreasing unemployment. In 1984 the Scottish average claimant unemployment rate was 13.3 % and the average of the worst 10 percent of wards was 33.5 %. In 2001, these figures were 4.3% and 10.1 % respectively. Whilst the average annual decline in unemployment is greater for the worst 10 % of wards, it is not clear that the gap has been reduced. The 1984 figure for the worst wards is 2.5 times the average and in 2001 it is only slightly less at 2.4 times the average figure.
Chart 24a: Unemployment rate in the worst areas and the Scotland average
Source: Claimant Count: Office for National Statistics. General register Office for Scotland
Background data
Table 24b: Comparison between the average unemployment rate in the worst 10% of Scottish Wards and the Scottish Average
Year | Scottish Average | Worst 10% of wards | Ratio |
1984 | 13.3 | 33.5 | 2.52 |
1985 | 13.7 | 33.5 | 2.45 |
1986 | 14.0 | 33.1 | 2.36 |
1987 | 13.4 | 30.9 | 2.30 |
1988 | 11.3 | 26.9 | 2.38 |
1989 | 9.0 | 22.1 | 2.46 |
1990 | 7.8 | 19.4 | 2.49 |
1991 | 8.4 | 19.6 | 2.34 |
1992 | 9.1 | 20.1 | 2.21 |
1993 | 9.4 | 20.0 | 2.13 |
1994 | 8.9 | 18.7 | 2.10 |
1995 | 7.7 | 16.5 | 2.14 |
1996 | 7.6 | 16.2 | 2.13 |
1997 Baseline | 6.3 | 14.3 | 2.26 |
1998 | 5.7 | 13.2 | 2.31 |
1999 | 5.3 | 12.1 | 2.29 |
2000 | 4.8 | 11.1 | 2.31 |
2001 | 4.3 | 10.1 | 2.36 |
Source: Claimant Count: Office for National Statistics
General register Office for Scotland
Note: Data for 1984-2000 has been revised following a revision to the levels of economic activity used in the calculation of unemployment rates. Following analysis of the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) in 1999/00, previous series of economic activity have been revised upwards to reflect the fact that these had been undercounted. These revisions affected the denominator used in calculating the unemployment rates. Although the unemployment rates are slightly different to previously published, there has been no change in the ratio of the worst 10% of wards to the Scotland average.
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