Economy of Edinburgh - Economic Profile

Economic Profile

• In 2009 the population of the city was estimated by the General Register Office for Scotland to be 477,660. Edinburgh's population is growing significantly, mainly through inward migration. This strong growth is, however, leading to pressure on the green belt, particularly in the west of the city as office and housing developments compete for space.

• Edinburgh has a large metropolitan travel to work area which provides a pool of workers from as far afield as the likes of Glasgow, much of Fife, Stirling, Falkirk and towns in the Scottish Borders such as Galashiels and Peebles.
• The city has the second highest gross value added per capita of any city in the UK, after London.
• The unemployment rate as of March 2010 stands at 3.6% and is consistently lower than the Scottish average of 4.5%.
• Employment in Edinburgh has grown at 1.4% annually over the period 1995 - 2004, with job vacancies comfortably outstripping job seekers over that same period.
• In 2007, the gross value added of the city was £15,304 million, or 15.4% of the Scottish total.
• There are pockets of deprivation, social exclusion, poor quality housing and pockets of unemployment particularly in peripheral areas of the city, but also in some inner city areas.
• Edinburgh's workforce is more productive than that of any other city in the UK. The Capital's Gross Value Added per head is £32,697, well ahead of the Scottish average of £19,267 and also far ahead of the UK average of £20,430.