Briefing 8: Levels of Employment

Overview

Information is available from the Annual Population Survey on resident and workplace employment at local authority level. 

For this briefing comparisons will be made on changes over time and between local authorities in west central Scotland. 

Reference will also be made to changes in the size of the working age population as this is a key determinant in employment levels. 

Commuting patterns are an intrinsic feature of the relationship between areas.

Resident Employment in West Central Scotland

Resident employment is a measure of the number of people in employment that live in a certain area, regardless of where they work.

Table 1: Resident Employment in West Central Scotland

Persons aged between 16-64 years, in full- and part-time employment, twelve months to December.

Workplace Employment in West Central Scotland

Workplace employment counts the number of jobs in an area, regardless of where the people taking these jobs live.

Table 2: Workplace Employment in West Central Scotland

Taking Glasgow as an example, in 2020 as a workplace the city housed 460,100 jobs, and yet the resident employment was only 304,100. 

According to the 2011 census, around 10% of Glasgow residents in employment out-commute, this suggests that around 190,000 jobs are taken by in-commuters.

The data clearly shows that in the last 15 years both resident and workplace employment levels have increased at a far greater rate in Glasgow compared with the surrounding local authorities. 

An interesting aspect of the increases in Glasgow is that the numeric increase in both has been almost identical, 61,000 in resident employment, 62,400 in workplace employment. 

One interpretation of this is that the main beneficiaries of the increase in employment in Glasgow have largely been Glasgow residents, if some jobs have gone to in-commuters the data suggests this will have been offset by a similar number of Glasgow out-commuters. 

Population Aged 16-64 in West Central Scotland

Another reason explaining the employment growth in Glasgow is that the working age population has been increasing, again, by almost the same amount as the increases in employment. 

The 16-64 age group includes people in full-time education, with caring responsibilities, health problems, in early retirement as well as those unemployed, not all the increase in the age group will lead to the increase in employment.

Table 3: Population Aged 16-64 in West Central Scotland

The table shows that while the 16-64 age group increased in number between 2005 and 2020 in Glasgow; over the same time period in the surrounding local authorities the aggregate number actually declined.

Summary

Taken together, the data suggests two quite different trends are taking place in Glasgow and in the surrounding local authorities. 

While Glasgow is seeing employment growth and increases in the working-age population; the surrounding local authorities are experiencing far more modest rates of change, and in some cases decline.  Commuting patterns mask the full impact of these changes. 

The more fundamental point is that the city's employment growth appears to have been to the benefits of the city's residents.  A further point of interest is to analyse the type of job and the sector of employment where these changes have been seen. 

It is, however, an issue of concern that some areas may be facing reductions in employment and in the size of the available workforce; this situation requires to be monitored and the further implications of the changes understood in order to avert more serious long-term decline.