WIREDGOV

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland.

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released estimates of young people aged 16-19 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) at a local authority level in Scotland.

Key findings

Over the year to November 2014:

• The rates of 16-19 year olds who were NEET decreased in 30 of the 32 local authority areas
• The largest decreases in the rates were seen in Clackmannanshire, Fife and East Ayrshire (down 2.9, 2.5 and 2.2 percentage points respectively)
• Shetland and Eilean Siar saw increases in their rates (up 1.3 and 0.9 percentage points respectively).

In November 2014:

• The local authority areas with the highest rates of NEET were West Dunbartonshire, Clackmannanshire, North-Lanarkshire (with rates of 9.5 per cent, 9.3 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively)
• The three local authorities with the highest NEET levels (Glasgow, North- Lanarkshire and Fife) accounted for almost a third (31 per cent) of all NEETs in Scotland.

Since November 2008:

• The rates of 16-19 year olds who were NEET decreased in all but 1 of the 32 local authority areas (Shetland local authority remains 0.5 percentages points above the corresponding rate in 2008)
• The largest decreases in the rate were seen in North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire (down 5.1 and 4.2 percentage points respectively). Fife, North-Lanarkshire and Glasgow saw decreases in their rates of 3.2, 1.5 and 1.4 percentage points respectively.

The figures released today were produced by independent statistical staff free from any political interference, in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Notes To Editors

The statistics being released today provides a general estimate of the level of the Local Authority NEET group which is consistent over time and between local authority areas. It is recognised that these statistics underestimate the Local Authority NEET group by approximately 20-25 per cent, but it does provide a useful measure to track the size of this group over time and enables comparisons across local authority areas. This under-estimation is likely to vary across local authority areas. Local Authorities use these LA estimates to monitor trends in their NEET level and rate over time.

This will be the final release of these statistics in their current form before they are replaced by the Participation Measure for 16 to 19 year olds. The Participation Measure will be published by Skills Development Scotland in August 2015 and will cover 16-19 year olds in Scotland who are participating in learning, training or work. The Participation measure will offer better coverage than the statistics presented in this publication. Further information can be obtained from Skills Development Scotland https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/contact-us/

The official measure for the headline NEET statistic for Scotland should be taken from the recently published results from the Annual Population Survey (http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/05/3466 ). The statistics released today underestimate the headline NEET statistic for Scotland by approximately 20-25 per cent.

The Official Statistics publication can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/LANEET

Further information on Labour Market statistics within Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About