Scottish Government

Reduce inequalities in economic participation across Scotland

DESCRIPTION:

To narrow the gap in participation between Scotland's best and worst performing regions by 2017.

SOURCE:

Data from the Annual Population Survey (APS), a National Statistics publication, is used to measure employment rates by local authority.

APS data are published on a quarterly basis by the Office for National Statistics.

A publication of headline figures from the APS is published in August each year by the Scottish Government covering the period January to December of the previous year.

The latest APS publication can be found using the following link.

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/Publications

Data are also published on the National Online Manpower Information System (NOMIS) website (www.nomisweb.co.uk)

This measure is calculated using the number of people aged 16-64 in employment in each region divided by population aged 16-64 in each region.

Prior to June 2011, the Cohesion Target (To narrow the gap in participation between Scotland's best and worst performing regions) was based on the traditional working-age population, defined as males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59.

In June 2011, the Cohesion Target was revised to be based on the definition for the new headline employment rate which covers the population aged 16 to 64 for both men and women. This new definition has been applied to the back series to ensure consistent comparisons.

This change was implemented as the female state pension age is now gradually increasing from 60 to 65, over a ten year period from April 2010 to 2020. As a result, the headline employment rates as published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are now based on the population aged 16 to 64 for both men and women.

The change to the definition was made in June 2011, as the January to December 2010 APS dataset was released at this time, and the female state pension age started to change from April 2010.

In measuring this target, the top and bottom three Local Authorities within each year will be grouped together. As a result, the Local Authority areas included within the top and bottom three may change between years, and therefore may differ from the top and bottom three Local Authority areas in the baseline year. Using the highest and lowest areas within each year also ensures that all 32 Local Authority areas are moving in the right direction and that work on increasing employment rates in one area does not happen at the expense of work in other areas which are not currently in the worst performing Local Authority areas.

The average employment rates are calculated as weighted averages of the relevant three local authorities' figures. The population of each local authority is used as a weight.

Aggregating Local Authority areas for this indicator increases the reliability of the data ensuring that changes over time are reasonably robust and are not dominated by random fluctuations in the data due to small numbers.

DEFINITIONS:

Participation is defined as covering those in employment - this will be measured using employment rates. Employment rates measure the proportion of population aged 16-64 in employment. Employment is defined as people who are employees, self employed, on government training programmes or unpaid family workers.

Regions are defined as Local Authority Areas. Local Authority areas are administrative regions within Scotland. There are 32 Local Authority Areas in Scotland.

BASELINE AND PAST TRENDS:

The baseline year is 2006 as this is the last data point available before the start of the first term of the current administration. This is in line with what has been applied to the vast majority of the indicators in the framework. The baseline figure is therefore 15.3%.

Average employment rates in the best and worst performing local authorities, 2004 to 2016:

CRITERIA FOR RECENT CHANGE ARROW:

This evaluation is based on: any difference in the gap within +/- 1 percentage points of last year's figure suggests that the position is more likely to be maintaining than showing any change. A decrease in the gap of 1 percentage points or more suggests that the position is improving; whereas an increase in the gap of 1 percentage points or more suggests the position is worsening

For information on general methodological approach, please click here.

FUTURE ISSUES OR REVIEWS:

No issues.

ASSOCIATED TARGET:

Target: To narrow the gap in participation between Scotland's best and worst performing regions by 2017.

For more information on this target please see the Government Economic Strategy:

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/357756/0120893.pdf

End point: 2017 data point