Fall in proportion of Midlothian households in work

Fewer Midlothian households had all adults in work last year, the latest figures show.

Stock photo of the Job Centre in John St, Penicuik.

Office for National Statistics data shows 15,166 households in Midlothian had all working age occupants aged 16 or over in employment in 2020 – 56.4 per cent of all those in the area. This was down from 64 per cent in 2019.

Meanwhile, the proportion of mixed households – with at least one working and one workless adult – increased from 24 per cent to 30.1 per cent over this period.

Across Scotland, 57.7 per cent of households were classed as working in 2020, below the UK-wide average of 58.4 per cent.

The proportion of UK working households was down from 58.8 per cent in 2019 – the first annual fall since 2011. There were 2.9 million workless households in the UK last year – containing around 1.3 million children.