Glasgow City Region

Trends in economic inactivity rates across the Glasgow City Region
The economic inactivity rate in Glasgow has been consistently higher than in other parts of the Glasgow City Region over the last two decades. Nevertheless, after a peak of 33.2% in 2012, the economic inactivity rate in Glasgow has reduced and was 25.4% in 2022, 2.5 percentage points above the Scottish rate.

Reasons for economic inactivity across Glasgow City Region

Economic inactivity levels in Glasgow have been consistently higher than in other parts of the Glasgow City Region region over the last two decades. Of adults who are economically inactive in Glasgow, 30% are economically inactive due to long-term illness, while 27% are economically inactive due to being a student. The 'retired' group account for 5% of those who are economically inactive in Glasgow, the lowest of all local authorities in the Glasgow City Region.

There is considerable variation across the local authorities in the proportions of those who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness. This ranges from 19% in East Renfrewshire to 50% in Inverclyde.

Notes

Being economically inactive is an economical concept used by governments to describe those neither in employment nor unemployed. The official definition (from ONS) of being economically inactive is given below:

Economically inactive people are not in employment, but do not satisfy all the criteria for unemployment. This group is comprised of those who want a job but who have not been seeking work in the last 4 weeks, those who want a job and are seeking work but not available to start and those who do not want a job. For example, students not working or seeking work and those in retirement are classed as economically inactive.

This page was updated in July 2023.