Scotland’s Census 2022 - Education, labour market and travel to work
An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland
Published: 11 September 2024
“Over a third of females aged 16 and over had a degree level qualification or above (35.1%).”
Jon Wroth-Smith, Director of Census Statistics, National Records of Scotland
Degree level qualifications or above
Scotland’s Census asked people aged 16 and over which qualifications they have. The analysis in this report looks at a person’s highest qualification. Qualifications are grouped according to their level. In this report we focus on the top group - degree level qualifications or above:
- Degree, Postgraduate Qualifications, Masters, PhD, SVQ Level 5 or equivalent
- Professional Qualifications (for example, teaching, nursing, accountancy)
- Other degree level Higher Education qualifications (including foreign qualifications)
In 2022 around one third of adults (32.5%) had degree level qualifications or above. This is around one and a half million people (1,476,900), up 334,200 (or by 29.2%) since 2011.
The figures for degree level qualifications or above exclude people whose highest qualification was an HNC, HND or equivalent. Including these people, 44.2% of people aged 16 and over had a Higher Education qualification.
Females saw larger increases than males over the decade. In 2022 35.1% of females aged 16 and over had a degree level qualification or above. This is up from 27.1% in 2011. The percentage of males aged 16 and over with degrees or above increased from 25.0% to 29.6% over the same period.
A higher percentage of females had degree level qualifications across most age groups. The difference between females and males was highest in younger age groups. Half of females (49.7%) aged 25 to 39 had a degree level qualification or above. In contrast under 40% of males in this age range had a degree or above.
Scotland’s Census also asked people for their job title and what they did in their main job. This information is used to derive their occupation. More information on the occupation classification used is available in the census metadata.
Professional and associate professional jobs are likely to require a degree. Occupation data by sex shows that more than half of workers in these occupations were female. However females made up 40.0% of workers in managerial and senior roles despite more females having a degree at almost all ages.
“Half of all adults (50.0%) in the City of Edinburgh council area had a degree level qualification or above.”
Jon Wroth-Smith, Director of Census Statistics, National Records of Scotland
Figure 4 shows how the percentage of people with degree level qualifications or above varied across council areas in Scotland. Half of all adults (50.0%) in the City of Edinburgh council area had a degree or above. East Renfrewshire (44.6%) and East Dunbartonshire (42.9%) had the next highest percentages. No other council area had over 40% of adults with a degree level qualification or above.
So there were concentrations of people with degrees living in and around Scotland’s two biggest cities. But the patterns in the east and west are different.
The City of Edinburgh council area had a relatively high percentage of adults with degrees. The surrounding council areas had lower percentages. In the west the pattern is different. Glasgow City council area has a lower percentage of adults with degrees. And there is a relatively high percentage of adults with degrees in two of the neighbouring council areas.
Industry
The census asked people for the main activity of their organisation, business or freelance work. This information is used to derive the industry they work in. More information on the industry classification used is available in the census metadata.
Over one in eight workers were working in the health and social work sector (14.6%). This was the largest sector, followed by retail (11.2%) and public administration (9.1%).
Public administration does not include front line public sector workers such as teachers (education sector) or doctors and nurses (health sector). The Scottish Government publishes quarterly data on public sector employment which captures employment across the public sector in Scotland.
The retail and public administration sectors saw some of the biggest changes since 2011. There was a 21.6% decrease in the number of people working in the retail sector over the decade (from 378,200 to 296,500). The number of people working in the public administration sector increased by 36.6% (from 175,900 to 240,400).
Figure 6 shows how the age profile of workers varied across sectors. The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector had the highest percentage of workers aged 65 and over (14.9%). The accommodation and food services sector had the highest percentage of workers aged 16 to 24 (35.0%).
Later in 2024 we will be able to combine data from different questions in Scotland’s Census. We will be able to look at the characteristics of the people working in different sectors and how this has changed over time.
“In March 2022 almost a third (31.6%) of workers worked from home.”
Jon Wroth-Smith, Director of Census Statistics, National Records of Scotland
Working from home and travel to work
In March 2022 almost a third (31.6%) of workers worked from home. The number of people working from home trebled to 800,500, from 259,600 in 2011. This is an increase of 540,900 (208.4%).
This increase was largely driven by changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some changes in response to the pandemic were temporary. Others are likely to be longer lasting. There were limited COVID related restrictions in place in March 2022, outside of health and social care settings.
Survey data from ONS shows that the percentage of people working from home or hybrid working has been relatively similar over the last two years (Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: working arrangements, Office for National Statistics). Data from the Department for Transport shows the number of commuting trips was similar in 2022 and 2023 (Chart 32, National Travel Survey 2023: Trips by purpose, age, mode and sex, Department for Transport).
The number of people driving a car or van to work decreased by 180,600. But this remained the most common way of travelling to work (1,163,700 people). Just under half (45.9%) of all workers drove to work in a car or van in March 2022. Excluding people who work from home, around two thirds (67.1%) of people who travelled to work drove a car or van. This is an increase from 62.8% in 2011.
Please note the travel to work data published for 2011 only includes workers aged 16-74, rather than workers aged 16 and older. This does not materially affect the comparability of the 2011 and 2022 percentages. There were only around 11,000 workers aged 75 and older in 2011.
Data related to this release
Search for Scotland’s Census 2022 data tables in the census data section.
This report includes data on:
- Highest level of qualification
- Occupation
- Industry
- Method of travel to work
We have also published data on:
- Method of travel to study
- Distance travelled to work (or study)
- Economic activity
- Full-time student population
- Hours worked
- National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC)
Geography boundaries and lookups for use with census data are available on the NRS website.
Privacy protection
All data tables have privacy protection applied to keep the data of individuals safe. Cells might not sum to sub totals and totals due to these Statistical Disclosure Controls (SDC). More information about SDC is available via the slides from our May 2024 webinars.
Working with census statistics
Census statistics represent the total population rather than just those who completed the questionnaire. Since the 2001 censuses, statistical modelling has been used across the United Kingdom to produce total population estimates from census responses.
As with all estimates, there is a level of uncertainty. Users should consider uncertainty when working with census estimates and interpreting small changes.
More information on quality
The quality of census data is important. We made innovative changes to our approach to account for the census response rate (89.8%) and ensure census statistics represent the total population rather than just those who completed the questionnaire.
We published a blog on the quality of small area statistics and why you can be confident using census data.
Quality assurance
We have published quality information for the variables included in this release alongside this report.
In 2023 we published a report on our approach to statistical quality assurance alongside the first release of data from Scotland’s Census 2022. We have carried out extensive quality assurance work to produce high quality census estimates.
Rounding
This report uses rounded estimates. Figures may not add exactly to totals because of the rounding. Unrounded census data is used to calculate percentages.
An Accredited Official Statistics publication for Scotland
These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2023. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Future census publications
We will publish outputs from Scotland's Census 2022 in phases. This reflects the additional work required to produce more detailed census statistics.
Topic summaries
This report is the sixth in a series of topic summaries. The remaining summary is:
- Health, disability and unpaid care (3 October)
Release dates are listed on our census outputs release schedule page.
Topic data will be published down to output area where possible. Output areas are made up of approximately 50 households. We will also produce breakdowns of these topics by age and sex where appropriate.
Multivariate/Build your own tables
After the remaining topic releases we will publish multivariate data. This means we will publish tables which include more than one census topic variable. For example, ethnic group by country of birth.
Our Flexible Table Builder will allow users to create their own census tables. Users will be able to combine the different census variables they are interested in.
Glossary
Age
A person's age on Census Day, 20 March 2022.
Council Area
There are 32 council areas in Scotland. Councils provide public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning.
Highest level of qualification
The highest level of qualification that a person has achieved. For more information on the how qualifications are grouped, see the Highest level of qualification metadata page.
Occupation
A person's occupation relates to their main job and is derived from either their job title or details of the activities involved in their job. This is used to assign responses to an occupation code based on the Standard Occupational Classification 2020 (SOC2020).
Industry
The industry in which a person works relates to their main job and is derived from the main activity of their employer or business. This is used to assign responses to an industry code based on the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC2007).
Method of travel to work
The method of travel used for the longest part, by distance, of the usual journey to work or place of study.
UK censuses
The Office for National Statistics is responsible for the census in England and Wales. Data and supporting information is available on the ONS website.
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency is responsible for the census in Northern Ireland. Data and supporting information is available on the NISRA website.
Contact us
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E-mail: [email protected]
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© Crown Copyright 2024 SG/2024/183