Climate change, the land-based labour market and rural land use in Scotland

The Scottish Government’s 2020 Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018-32 recognises the need for large scale and rapid changes to the way we use and manage our land to help reach Scotland’s net zero targets. The Scottish Government is also committed to significant improvements in nature restoration, to tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Critical to delivery of these land use changes will be the size and skills of the workforce in land-based activities. In turn, the size and location of the workforce will be critical to the sustainability of many rural and island communities.

This research explores the condition and composition of the land-based labour market and the potential for scenario-based modelling to project future labour market requirements. The researchers conducted a review of literature and of statistical data, and a small number of stakeholder interviews.

Findings

• Scotland’s national labour market has experienced a number of changes over the past few decades, including demographic ageing, advancing technological change and an increase in people with higher level skills.
• The Covid-19 pandemic, EU exit and the net zero transition have also led to shifts in the labour market.
• It is difficult to build a reliable picture of the composition of the land-based workforce in Scotland for several reasons, including a lack of formal definition of the land-based sector, a lack of consistency in the evidence collected for the sector and the reliance on unpaid and informal family labour.
• The research revealed a partial picture of the current condition of the sector, particularly in rural locations. The analysis at local authority level showed:
  • The number of employees in the agriculture and forestry sectors increased between 2010 and 2021.
  • Recruitment, retention and labour shortages are a problem for employers in some rural areas.
  • Small numbers in rural areas make it challenging at sub-local authority level to explore the condition and size of the labour market.
  • Lack of access to affordable and appropriate public transport, childcare and housing may make it harder for rural employers to recruit employees and reduce the mobility of the rural workforce.
  • Rural areas tend to have higher proportions of small businesses and microbusinesses, which are likely to face challenges in ensuring that staff have access to relevant training and skills development as the labour market changes.

For further details, please read the report.

If you require the report in an alternative format, such as a Word document, please contact info@climatexchange.org.uk or 0131 651 4783.