Summary

The Highlands and Islands as a whole experienced population growth during the 1990s. The general trend is that more remote and peripheral areas, such as the Western Isles, are experiencing population decline while population centres, such as Inverness and Nairn, are experiencing population growth. The unemployment rate in the Highlands and Islands is highly seasonal. This, together with the large proportion of the total workforce employed in the wholesale, hotels and restaurants sector, indicates a reliance on tourism activities. This is particularly evident in Lochaber and Skye and Lochalsh.

The agriculture, fisheries and forestry, transport and communication and construction sectors are also larger employers in the Highlands and Islands, relative to Scotland as a whole. This is more prominent in peripheral island areas such as Orkney, Skye and Lochalsh and Argyll and the Islands.

The average gross weekly earnings are lower in the Highlands and Islands than for Scotland and GB. The highest average earnings are made in Shetland.

Small firms dominate employment in the Highlands and Islands and the business start-up rate is higher in the Highlands and Islands than in Scotland. High business start-up rates are shown in Skye and Lochalsh and Orkney, while areas such as Caithness and Sutherland and Moray Badenoch and Strathspey have some of the lower start-up rates.

Despite the lower adoption of basic e-business in the Highlands and Islands, there is a higher adoption of more advanced e-business options, particularly in Skye and Lochalsh and Shetland.