Scotland tests bank data as a labour-market indicator
A Scottish Government feasibility study examined pseudonymised transaction data as a possible supplement to survey-based employment statistics.
Event / data period: 2026-10-15
Published: · Updated:
The Scottish Government assessed whether pseudonymised financial transaction data from about 575,000 NatWest customers could add insight to labour-market statistics. The dataset covered all 32 local authorities and represented around 13.3% of Scotland’s adult population.
Smart Data Foundry combined expert-designed rules with unsupervised clustering across 26 transaction-derived features. Labour-market status was inferred rather than directly observed, producing proxy classifications for employment, unemployment and economic inactivity. The government said the method needs further development and validation across groups before the outputs could be used as official statistics. This is not a random population sample; the unemployed-or-benefits-reliant classification also differs from the International Labour Organization definition of unemployment.
Data
Scotland tests bank data as a labour-market indicator
Data from about 575,000 NatWest customers was examined in a proof of concept for labour-market indicators.
- · Occurred
Scotland tests bank data as a labour-market indicator
Data from about 575,000 NatWest customers was examined in a proof of concept for labour-market indicators.
Methodology
The measure does not directly observe employment; it is a proxy classification inferred from customer transaction data and requires further validation.
Updated:
Study sample
Dataset described in the official feasibility report.
| NatWest pseudonymised customers | 575000 | approximately |
| Scottish local authorities covered | 32 | all |
| Transaction-derived features | 26 | used in model |
Methodology
The measure does not directly observe employment; it is a proxy classification inferred from customer transaction data and requires further validation.
Updated:
Population coverage
Approximate share of the population aged 18 and over.
| Share of Scottish adult population | 13.3 |
Methodology
The measure does not directly observe employment; it is a proxy classification inferred from customer transaction data and requires further validation.
Updated:
Subjects and places
Subject proposals
- EconomySuggested
- Preserved editorial category/topic; broad candidate onlywww.gov.scot ↗
- EmploymentSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: employmentwww.gov.scot ↗
- Labor marketSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: employmentwww.gov.scot ↗
Geographic references
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- United Kingdom · Place role: Coverage · Place type: Country or area · Location precision: RegionalEvidence
- Explicit preserved editorial country/region; no city or national centroid inferredwww.gov.scot ↗