High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Monday, June 30, 2008
Local Labour Markets
The employment rate in Scotland varies considerably by local authority area. The difference between the best performing 3 local authority areas and the 3 worst performing local authority areas has generally reduced over the last 10 years. The difference increased by 0.6 percentage points between 2005 and 2006.
The Scottish Government has set a target to narrow the gap in participation between Scotland's best and worst performing regions by 2017.
Source: 2001-2003 data are taken from the Annual Labour Force Survey. Data from 2004 onwards are taken from the Annual Population Survey. The data for 2004 onwards are based on the calendar year whereas data prior to this is based on seasonal years (Mar-Feb) so there is a discontinuity in the series.