Scotland has made significant progress towards its goal of becoming a leading Fair Work Nation, according to the latest research from the Fair Work Convention.
The new report, which benchmarks Scotland’s performance against leading European nations, highlights both achievements and ongoing challenges for Scotland as it approaches its 2025 ambition.
This report is not the final verdict on whether Scotland is a leading Fair Work Nation due to the lag in the publication of economic data. But the findings suggest that Scotland won’t be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025.
Despite this, the report shows that since 2016, Scotland has made measurable progress on fair work. It has improved on 11 of the 14 indicators, with particularly positive performance in key areas like reducing gender economic inactivity gaps, reducing workplace injuries and tackling low pay.
When comparing Scotland’s performance with other leading European nations, Scotland performs particularly well on permanent employment and is improving on other security dimensions of fair work like underemployment and involuntary part-time work.
Challenges remain, particularly on unemployment for young people where Scotland’s performance is dropping, on the disability employment gap where more progress is needed to meet the Scottish Government’s target and on collective bargaining where Scotland lags significantly behind the leading nations.
Beyond the data, the report recognises the significant work undertaken by the Scottish Government and the Fair Work Convention to create the concept of Fair Work and to embed it firmly within economic policy.
The Government’s Fair Work First approach means that fair work conditionality has been applied to more than £6 billion of public funding. The Convention’s sectoral inquiries have provided a clear way forward on deeply ingrained fair work issues in sectors like hospitality, construction and social care.
Looking ahead, the report calls for a renewed commitment and a range of further action, particularly on collective bargaining as a key measure and a route to improving all dimensions of fair work.
Fair Work Convention Co-Chairs Professor Patricia Findlay and Chris Westcott said: “Becoming a world leading Fair Work Nation was always a stretching and aspirational target, deliberately chosen to challenge ourselves as a nation. There are many obstacles to its delivery. But by aiming high, fair work is now embedded firmly in policy and in much practice in Scotland.
“We remain ambitious and committed to supporting the delivery of fair work. Transformative progress that benefits workers, businesses and our economy is achievable. New legislation on worker rights from Westminster will help underpin aspects of fair work, allowing us to re-focus Scotland’s aspirations for leading fair work practice.”
Read the full Measuring Scotland’s Performance as a Leading Fair Work Nation report here