Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity in West Lothian

In West Lothian:

Estimates of employment and economic inactivity are based on the Annual Population Survey. Unemployment estimates are modelled to improve their precision compared to those based only on responses provided via the Annual Population Survey.

The Claimant Count is based on administrative data from the benefits system. These data are experimental statistics.

Employment in West Lothian has decreased compared with the previous year

West Lothian's employment rate was slightly lower than across Scotland as a whole in the year ending December 2023.

Of people aged 16 to 64 years living in West Lothian, 74.4% were employed in the year ending December 2023. This is a decrease compared with the year ending December 2022 when the local rate was 76.9%.

Across Scotland in the year ending December 2023, 74.7% of people aged 16 to 64 years were employed. This was slightly higher compared with the previous year, when 74.4% of people were employed.

Overall, there were around 90,100 people aged 16 and over in West Lothian who were employed in the year ending December 2023. This is down from the previous year, when there were around 91,000 people aged 16 and over who were employed.

Local population changes mean that the numbers of people in each area who are employed, unemployed and economically inactive in this article may be under- or over-estimates.

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Unemployment rose slightly in West Lothian compared with the previous year

Unemployment estimates are modelled to improve their precision compared to those based only on responses provided via the Annual Population Survey.

Around 2,800 people aged 16 and over in West Lothian were unemployed in the year ending December 2023. This is a rate of 3.0%.

This was a slight increase compared with the year ending December 2022 when the unemployment rate was 2.9%.

Across Scotland, from the year ending December 2022 to the year ending December 2023, there was a slight increase in the unemployment rate from 3.4% to 3.5%.

Year on year, the number of people unemployed in Scotland rose from around 94,100 to around 96,400 over the same period.

Unemployment across Great Britain rose slightly between the year ending December 2022 and the year ending December 2023, going from around 1,180,000 people (3.6%) to around 1,240,000 (3.7%).

Unemployed people are those without jobs who are actively seeking work and available to take up a job. Some jobless people may not seek work or be able to work for various reasons, such as retirement, sickness, or study, and are called "economically inactive".

This means that the employment rate and the unemployment rate can both go up at the same time as people move into the labour market and become job seekers.

The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people out of everyone "economically active" in the labour market, that is, everyone who is employed or looking for work. The employment rate is out of the working-age population including "economically inactive" people.

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Claimant Count in West Lothian was around the same as in the previous year

The Claimant Count is an experimental statistic that measures the number of people who are claiming unemployment-related benefits.

The Claimant Count in West Lothian was 3320 in March 2024, up from March 2023, when there were 3235 claimants.

The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years in West Lothian who were claiming unemployment-related benefits was 2.8% in March 2024, a similar value compared with March 2023 when it was 2.7%.

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Economic inactivity has increased in West Lothian compared with the previous year

Around 25,900 people or 22.1% of the population aged 16 to 64 years in West Lothian were "economically inactive" in the year ending December 2023. This compares with around 25,100 people (21.4%) in the year ending December 2022.

People are classed as "economically inactive" if they are not in employment but don't meet the criteria for being "unemployed". This means they have not been seeking work within the previous four weeks or were unable to start work within the next two weeks. Common reasons include being retired, looking after the home or family or being temporarily or long-term sick and disabled.

Economic inactivity in West Lothian is slightly lower than across Scotland.

Across Scotland, 22.5% of people aged 16 to 64 years were economically inactive during the year ending December 2023, a slight decrease compared with the year ending December 2022 when 22.9% were economically inactive.

Overall in Great Britain, 21.2% of people aged 16 to 64 years were economically inactive, compared with 21.5% in the previous year.

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More data about West Lothian

You can view and download more local labour market data on the West Lothian area profile page on Nomis.

Find more facts and figures about West Lothian.

More data on the labour market

The most recent labour market figures for all local authorities are in our associated data release.

You can also read our most recent labour market overview.

Historic data is available on Nomis. For employment and economic inactivity, see estimates from the Annual Population Survey. Data for model-based unemployment and Claimant Count (non-seasonally adjusted) are also available.

About this article

The content in this article is generated using semi-automated journalism, based on rules pre-programmed by Office for National Statistics (ONS) staff.

This is a new product in Beta release, intended to improve the accessibility of labour market data at local level. Leave us general feedback or contact the subnational analysis team by emailing subnational@ons.gov.uk.

Articles are not available for Isles of Scilly and City of London, as the survey samples of the resident population are too small.

Previous editions

This pilot release was originally published on October 5th 2023 and was updated with new data on November 9th 2023, February 2nd 2024, and May 14th 2024. For transparency, all data previously provided in the release are listed below.

Download data for previously published editions of Employment, unemployment and related statistics for your area, 150KB, XLSX.