# Employment rate: highest and lowest councils in Scotland (March 2026)

Orkney Islands had the highest employment rate of Scotland’s 32 councils in March 2026, at 91.4%.

Inverclyde had the lowest, at 65.9%. The middle council, Clackmannanshire, had 74.7%.

| Rank | Area | Employment rate | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Orkney Islands](https://openindex.co.uk/orkney-islands) | 91.4% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 2 | [West Lothian](https://openindex.co.uk/west-lothian) | 83.6% | – |
| 3 | [Edinburgh](https://openindex.co.uk/edinburgh) | 80.7% | – |
| 4 | [Midlothian](https://openindex.co.uk/midlothian) | 79.6% | – |
| 5 | [Dumfries and Galloway](https://openindex.co.uk/dumfries-and-galloway) | 78.8% | – |
| =6 | [East Lothian](https://openindex.co.uk/east-lothian) | 78.6% | – |
| =6 | [Falkirk](https://openindex.co.uk/falkirk) | 78.6% | – |
| =6 | [Scottish Borders](https://openindex.co.uk/scottish-borders) | 78.6% | – |
| 9 | [Shetland Islands](https://openindex.co.uk/shetland-islands) | 78.5% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 10 | [Moray](https://openindex.co.uk/moray) | 78.4% | – |
| 11 | [Aberdeen](https://openindex.co.uk/aberdeen) | 77.3% | – |
| 12 | [Aberdeenshire](https://openindex.co.uk/aberdeenshire) | 76.4% | – |
| 13 | [South Lanarkshire](https://openindex.co.uk/south-lanarkshire) | 76.2% | – |
| 14 | [Perth and Kinross](https://openindex.co.uk/perth-and-kinross) | 76.0% | – |
| 15 | [East Renfrewshire](https://openindex.co.uk/east-renfrewshire) | 75.8% | – |
| 16 | [Clackmannanshire](https://openindex.co.uk/clackmannanshire) | 74.7% | – |
| 17 | [South Ayrshire](https://openindex.co.uk/south-ayrshire) | 74.3% | – |
| 18 | [East Dunbartonshire](https://openindex.co.uk/east-dunbartonshire) | 73.9% | – |
| =19 | [North Ayrshire](https://openindex.co.uk/north-ayrshire) | 73.6% | – |
| =19 | [North Lanarkshire](https://openindex.co.uk/north-lanarkshire) | 73.6% | – |
| 21 | [Fife](https://openindex.co.uk/fife) | 73.5% | – |
| =22 | [East Ayrshire](https://openindex.co.uk/east-ayrshire) | 73.2% | – |
| =22 | [Stirling](https://openindex.co.uk/stirling) | 73.2% | – |
| 24 | [Highland](https://openindex.co.uk/highland) | 72.6% | – |
| 25 | [Angus](https://openindex.co.uk/angus) | 71.9% | – |
| 26 | [West Dunbartonshire](https://openindex.co.uk/west-dunbartonshire) | 70.3% | – |
| 27 | [Na h-Eileanan Siar](https://openindex.co.uk/na-h-eileanan-siar) | 70.0% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 28 | [Dundee](https://openindex.co.uk/dundee) | 69.3% | – |
| 29 | [Renfrewshire](https://openindex.co.uk/renfrewshire) | 69.1% | – |
| 30 | [Argyll and Bute](https://openindex.co.uk/argyll-and-bute) | 68.9% | – |
| 31 | [Glasgow](https://openindex.co.uk/glasgow) | 67.2% | – |
| 32 | [Inverclyde](https://openindex.co.uk/inverclyde) | 65.9% | – |

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS population survey. Covers Great Britain. Period: March 2026. Period: March 2026.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [Great Britain](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/england)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/wales)
- [North East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-east)
- [North West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-west)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-midlands)
- [West Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/west-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-east)
- [South West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-west)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/employment)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/employment)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/scotland.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.11. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/scotland