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Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

Milestone 15: Increasing the employment rates of groups, such as lone parents and ethnic minorities, that are relatively disadvantaged in the labour market

This milestone is measured by 4 separate indicators which are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The latest information is available for the 12 month period ending in February 2003. The indicators are defined as the proportion of working age people from specific groups in Scotland who are in employment. The four categories are

a) lone parents - a single working aged adult household with dependent children, and no non-dependent children. Dependent children are defined as those aged 0-15 or aged 16-18 in full-time education;
b) people from minority ethnic groups;
c) people aged 50 or more; and
d) people with a disability which affects day to day activities, is work limiting or both.

Employment of disadvantaged groups in the labour market

Since 1997 there has been an increase in the Scotland level employment rate, and there is evidence from the LFS to show that the employment rates of disadvantaged groups in the labour market have also increased during this period. The employment rates of lone parents have seen the most significant increase rising by some 10 percentage points, to just over 50 per cent in the year ending February 2003.

Chart 15a: Percentage of working age people in employment, 1997 - 2003

Source: Labour Force Survey: Office for National Statistics
Notes: The baseline for people with a disability is 1998, and for the other categories is 1997.

Analysis from the 2001 Census

The 2001 Census allows a comparison of employment rates between various subgroups and areas to be made. The 2001 Census information on employment is not directly comparable with the LFS because (i) The census is a self-completion survey whereas the Labour Force Survey is based on interview; (ii) the census is based on 100% sample of the population, whereas the Labour Force Survey produces estimates based on a survey of a smaller sample of the population and subject to sampling error; and (iii) the Census data is a snapshot of circumstances at 29 April 2001 and the Labour Force Survey covers a 12 month period. The LFS is the official source of labour market statistics.

When looking at the comparisons of employment rates it is also useful to take into account the levels of working age economic activity, which is the number of people in employment plus the number of people who are unemployed as a proportion of the total number of working age people. By definition the employment rate is bounded by the economic activity rate. People who are not economically active include people who have retired early, students, people looking after the home or family, and people who are permanently sick or disabled.

The 2001 Census showed the Scotland level employment rate to be 70 per cent, with a relatively higher employment rate among men. As with unemployment rates there are differences across council areas, the Census show employment rates of 58 per cent in Glasgow City and 63 per cent in Dundee City. In all council areas the male employment rates are higher than the female rates.

Both male and female employment rates are relatively higher in rural areas and the large urban areas show relatively lower employment rates.

There are differences between both the employment and economic activity rates across minority ethnic groups. The economic activity and employment rates of minority ethnic groups are lower than the Scottish rates. Within the Pakistani and Bangladeshi minority ethnic groups the low employment rates are explained to some degree by the low female economic activity rates.

Table 15b: Employment rates by council area, urban rural classification, minority ethnic group and Interim Scottish Multiple Index of Deprivation, 2001 Census

Table 15c: Economic Activity rates by council area, urban rural classification, minority ethnic group and Interim Scottish Multiple Index of Deprivation, 2001 Census

Background data

The following background data corresponds to the charts and commentary included in this milestone.

Table 15d: Percentage of working age people in employment from relatively disadvantaged groups in the labour market, 1997 - 2003

Availability of data and references

Information at a Scottish level for ethnic minorities and people aged 50 or more is available from 1992. Data for people with a disability is available from 1998 and for lone parents, is available from 1996.

The publication of the 2001 Census of Population has resulted in population estimates being revised. This means the historical series of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) needs to be reweighted using these revised population estimates. However, publication of the Mid-2002 population estimates for England and Wales was delayed until 19 September 2003. As a result, the reweighting exercise for all the LFS data for GB has been delayed. The Office for National Statistics will announce the timetable for release of the revised data as soon as possible.

The LFS data used in this report is therefore not consistent with the 2001 Census based population revisions.

In previous Social Justice publications, data for the relevant Social Justice milestones was taken from the Spring quarter each year. For milestone 7 and 15, the sample sizes are relatively small and the data is subject to greater sampling errors. To minimise this volatility, annual LFS data has been used for these indicators. This will improve the reliability of the indicator as the annual data is based on a larger sample.

In addition, the Scottish Executive and the Office for National Statistics have jointly undertaken an exercise to boost the Scottish element of the Labour Force Survey. This will produce better estimates for the milestones that are based on the LFS and for some indicators further disaggregation by key client groups and geographical areas will be possible, including an urban/rural split. It is anticipated that results from the first year of the boosted survey will be available in Autumn 2004.

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