UK Business Information / Scotland

Scotland's fortuitous natural deposits of oil and coal meant large numbers of people being employed in the mining industry for many years. Though energies is still a large employer, other sectors are coming to the fore.

Chemical-related industries are now employing a large number of people, as is the Scottish ICT industry. And the financial centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasingly retaining graduates from Scotland's top universities.

34% of the population have achieved NVQ level 4 or above.

The table below shows a breakdown of employee numbers for the main industries in Scotland.

EMPLOYMENT JOBS BY INDUSTRY (thousands):

Original data from ONS - labour market statistics

Oil and gas is Scotland's largest export industry. The sector employs over 150,000 people.

Over 200,000 people are employed in manufacturing. A growing proportion of these are employed in highly skilled 'advanced manufacturing' professions, such as pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology and the aerospace industry.

Tourism is another important Scottish industry. 27,000 tourism businesses in Scotland employ over 200,000 people, representing 9% of the total workforce.

The health and social work sector is the largest employer in Scotland, with close to 400,000 people. Business services and real estate is the second largest, employing close to 350,000.

85,000 people are employed in financial services in Scotland, representing 4.9% of the population.