Briefing 15: Employment and Occupations

Overview

Previous information briefings have placed a focus on the increase in the employment rate in Glasgow; with the source being the Annual Population Survey.  The most recent data is for the year ending September 2022, and there have been considerable changes over the last thirty years. 

Since September 1993 the main changes include:

• The number of residents in employment has increased by 95,600, from 218,000 to 313,600;
• The number of residents aged between 16 and 64 has also increased, by 58,300, from 374,600 to 432,900;
• As a consequence the employment rate has increased, it currently stands at 72.4%, a significant increase from the September 1993 rate of 58.2%;
• Glasgow still lags behind the Scottish overall employment rate, however the gap now of 2.1 points has been substantially reduced from the September 1993 gap of 11.2 points.

Employment Rate in Glasgow

Table 1 shows the details of the changes over the last thirty years. 

Table 1: Employment Rate in Glasgow, change over time, with Scotland comparison

Source: Sept 07 onwards, from Annual Population Survey; Sept 93, Sept 97 and Sept 02 from Labour Force Survey quarterly; old unreweighted; Office for National Statistics.  WAP stands for the Working Age Population.

Employment in Glasgow, Scotland

Part of the reason for this growth in employment is that there are now more jobs in Glasgow

Table 2: Employment in Glasgow, Scotland

Source: 93 and 97, Annual Employment Survey; 02, 07 Annual Business Inquiry; 2012 onwards Business Register and Employment Survey; combines full-time and part-time employment

Between 1993 and 2021

• The number of jobs in Glasgow increased by 114,000, from 309,000 to 423,000, an increase of 36.9%;
• The comparable increase in Scotland was 27.8%.

Comparisons between Resident and Workplace Employment

Another way of looking at the data is to compare resident employment with workplace employment.  Resident employment refers to the number of people in employment, regardless of where they work; while workplace employment relates to the total number of jobs in an area, regardless of where the employee lives.  Using the data already provided, the details are set out below.

Table 3: Comparisons between resident and workplace employment in Glasgow

Source: as already noted.

Between 1993 and 2021

• One aspect of employment in Glasgow is that there are more jobs in the city than there are residents in employment, with the difference due to net in-commuting;
• While the number of jobs in Glasgow increased by 114,000, the number of residents in employment increased by 95,600, pointing to a net increase in in-commuting of 18,400;
• The increase in jobs during the 2000s was to the benefit of in-commuters as well as residents, though in recent years the difference has reduced.

Employment in Science, Research, Engineering and Technology

In terms of occupation, there has been an increase in jobs in Glasgow in the overall sector of science, research, engineering and technology.

Table 4: Employment in Science, Research, Engineering and Technology

Source: Annual Population Survey

At September 2022, the professional category was the largest out of 25 in Glasgow, comparing with:

1. 36,000: science, research, engineering and technology professionals;
2. 35,200: administrative occupations;
3. 27,800: business & public service associate professionals;
4. 21,300: business, media and public service professionals;
5. 16,100: health professionals;
6. 15,600: sales occupations.

Employment in this sector has more than doubled, as at September 2007 the professional category was the seventh largest in Glasgow, lower than:

1. 27,000: elementary administration & service occupations;
2. 24,600: administrative occupations;
3. 21,900: sales occupations;
4. 17,700: caring personal service occupations;
5. 15,000: business, media and public service professionals;
6. 14,800: business & public service associate professionals;
7. 14,200: science, research, engineering and technology professionals.

Summary

While the overall picture of employment in Glasgow is therefore open to interpretation although the following comments can be made

• There have been increases in both the number of jobs in Glasgow and in the number of Glasgow residents in employment.
• More recently, the increase in jobs in Glasgow has been more to the benefit of residents than to in-commuters.
• Recent data suggests an increase in jobs in the knowledge economy, and in particular in jobs in science, research, engineering and technology; and this is a change in the perception that Glasgow was predominantly a city of manual, elementary, entry-level and back-office employment.

A fuller analysis and verification of these trends can be done once the census results are available.