The Scottish Government said on Tuesday that estimates sourced from the ONS Labour Force Survey for April to June 2025, compared with the quarter before, indicate that Scotland’s employment rate increased while the unemployment and economic inactivity rates decreased.

The estimated unemployment rate in Scotland was 3.8%, down 0.5 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 4.7%

The estimated employment rate — the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work — in Scotland was 75.1%, up 0.6 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s employment rate was below the UK rate of 75.3%

The estimated economic inactivity rate — the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work — in Scotland was 21.9%, down 0.1 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s economic inactivity rate was above the UK rate of 21.0%.

Early seasonally adjusted estimates for July 2025 from HMRC Pay As You Earn Real Time Information indicate there were 2.45 million payrolled employees in Scotland, a decrease of 0.5% (-13,000) compared with July 2024. This was the same as the annual decrease for the UK (-0.5%).