Motions, questions and answers

The Scottish Government routinely analyses data on economic inactivity published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and publishes this data on the Scottish Government’s website.The Labour Market Trends: December 2024 publication was released on 17th December 2024, and contains statistics from ONS’s Labour Force Survey. These show that Scotland had an estimated economic inactivity rate of 24.0% for August to October 2024.The latest Scotland’s Labour Market Insights statistical publication was released on 28 October 2024, containing statistics from ONS’s Annual Population Survey. This reported that an estimated 786,300 people aged 16 to 64 were economically inactive in Scotland in July 2023 – June 2024. An estimated 32.0% of inactive people gave their reason for being inactive as “long-term sick or disabled”. The second most common reason for being economically inactive was being a student (24.6%),
followed by looking after “looking after family / home” (16.1%).Economic inactivity due to ill health is a key concern, and the Scottish Government published analysis in September 2024 on supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active. This is available at: Economic inactivity in Scotland: supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active.