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Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

COMMUNITIES

Milestone 24: Reducing the gap in unemployment rates between the worst areas and the average rate for Scotland

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.

This milestone is based on the claimant count rate and is not directly comparable with the Labour Force Survey unemployment rate used in Milestone 13, which is consistent with the International Labour Organisation definition of unemployment. 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 which are have the highest claimant unemployment rates in Scotland in each year. Therefore the selection of the worst 10% of wards changes each year. For comparability over time, 1991 ward boundaries are used to define ward areas from 1995 to 2002. 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 per cent of wards. The long term trend for both the Scotland average and the worst areas is of decreasing unemployment. In 1997 the Scottish average claimant unemployment rate was 6 per cent and the average of the worst 10 per cent of wards was 14 per cent. In 2002, these rates were 4 and 9 per cent respectively. The gap between the worst 10% of ward and the Scottish average has decreased from 8 per cent in 1997 to 5 per cent in 2002, but the ratio between the worst 10% of ward and the Scottish average has not changed significantly.

Chart 24a: Unemployment rate in the worst areas and the Scotland average, 1995 - 2002

Sources: Claimant Count: Office for National Statistics. General Register Office for Scotland

Background data

Table 24b: Unemployment rate in the worst areas and the Scotland average, 1995 - 2002

Availability of data and references

The above indicator is based on 1991 ward boundaries.

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