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Glasgow City Region

Employment rates in the Glasgow City Region, 2004 - 2023
Chart showing rates of employment in Glasgow City Region from 2004 to 2023. Employment rates in the Glasgow City Region have fluctuated over the last two decades but have risen in most local authorities over the last ten years. The employment rate in Glasgow has risen from a low point in 2012 (58%) to 71% in 2023.

Glasgow's employment rate was around 3.5% lower than the Scottish average and the second lowest among the local authorities in the Glasgow City Region. It had remained lower than the other local authorities in GCR throughout most of this time period, but had risen to be closer to the other rates in the region in more recent years. 

Percentage in full-time employment aged 16-64, in Glasgow City Region local authorities and Scotland, 2023

Chart showing rates of full time employment in Glasgow City Region in 2023.The percentage of employed working-age men in Glasgow who are in full-time employment is 91%. Both South Lanarkshire (92%) and West Dunbartonshire (95%) had higher rates of full-time male employment. The lowest full-time male employment rate was 86%, in East Dunbartonshire. 

Each of the local authorities had higher rates of full-time employment for men than for women. West Dunbartonshire had the highest rates for both genders. Inverclyde had the lowest level of full-time employment for women, with 55% of women in work working full time. It also had the largest gap, with a 33 percentage point gap between men and women working full time. 

Job density: the number of jobs per working-age resident and is used as indicator of labour demand. A job density greater than one indicates that there is more than one job per person for the working-age population. Glasgow has had a much higher job density than all the other local authorities in the Glasgow City Region area throughout the last two decades. In 2021, job density in Glasgow was 1.03, but ranged between 0.81 and 0.41 in the other local authorities in the City Region.

Employment rate by gender for Glasgow City Region local authorities and Scotland, 2023
Chart showing employment rates by gender in Glasgow City Region in 2023. In 2023, male employment rates were higher than female employment rates in Scotland as a whole and in most, but not all, local authorities in the Glasgow City Region. In East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, female employment rates were higher than male employment rates. The largest gender gap was in North Lanarkshire, where 62% of women and 79% of men were in employment. 

Migrant workers as a percentage of total in employment aged 16-64 in Glasgow City Region local authorities and Scotland, 2023Chart showing the proportion of workers in Glasgow City Region who were born outside of the UK in 2023.

Around 18% of Glasgow's workforce was born outside of the UK. This is a higher rate than in any of the other local authorities in the Glasgow City Region and in Scotland as a whole (14%). East Renfrewshire has the second highest rate, with 16% of workers born outside of the UK, and South Lanarkshire has the lowest rate shown here, with only 8% of workers born outside of the UK. 

Notes

The Annual Population Survey (APS) combines results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the English, Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey boosts. It is the primary source for information on local labour markets, providing headline estimates on employment, unemployment and economic activity, and is the largest annual household survey in Scotland.

The LFS definition of employment is anyone (aged 16 or over) who does at least one hour’s paid work in the week prior to their LFS interview, or has a job that they are temporarily away from (e.g. on holiday). Also included are people who do unpaid work in a family business and people on government supported employment training schemes, in line with ILO definitions.

The headline employment rate is the proportion of the working-age population who are in employment. The working-age population comprises men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59 and therefore  takes account of the school-leaving age but does not align completely with the state pension age, which has risen in recent years.

The full-time/part-time split is based on respondent self-classification. Respondents are asked whether they work full-time or part-time in their main job.

The measure of migrant workers used is defined as: people in employment who were not born in the UK, expressed as a percentage of all people in employment in an area.

This page was updated in February 2025.

Further reading under ‘Employment’