NEET rates decrease in all Scottish Local Authorities

3rd July 2014

Over the year to November 2013, the rates of 16-19 year olds who were not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) decreased in all 32 local authority areas.

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 2013, the largest decreases in the rates were seen in South Ayrshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, down 3.1, 2.8 and 2.7 percentage points respectively.
The local authority areas with the highest rates of NEET in 2013 were Clackmannanshire, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire, with rates of 11.8%, 10.3% and 10.1% respectively.
The three local authorities with the highest NEET levels in 2013 (Glasgow, Fife and North Lanarkshire) accounted for almost a third (31%) of all NEETs in Scotland.

Since November 2008:

The rates of 16-19 year olds who were NEET decreased in all but 3 of the 32 local authority areas.
The largest decreases in the rate were seen in South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire, down 3.3 and 3.2 percentage points respectively. West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian also both decreased by 3.1 percentage points.
East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire saw increases in their rates, up 0.7 and 1.1 percentage points respectively. The rate remained unchanged in North Lanarkshire.
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.

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%, 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.

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.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/05/4201). The statistics released today underestimate the headline NEET statistic for Scotland by approximately 20-25%.

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