Scots living standards nosedive as North Sea oil crash takes its toll

The personal living standards of Scots have taken a tumble against other global nations, new research indicates.

Scotland has fallen three places to 18th in the rankings of developed countries in recent years as a result of the North Sea oil and gas slump. Although the Scottish Government has not updated its international ranking of GDP per capita – a snapshot of individual citizens’ wealth – figures have been compiled by leading economist John Mclaren of the Scottish Trends website.

It comes as new figures also show that annual labour productivity in Scotland, as measured by output per hour worked, decreased by 1.9 per cent in real terms compared to 2016 and has fallen below 2010 levels.

The slump in per capita growth means Scotland now has the fourth slowest rate of growth of other OECD nations and has fallen behind the wider UK rate.

“Scotland has fared relatively badly since 2014, dropping three places to 18th, now just behind the UK in 17th,” Prof Mclaren states.

“The main reason for this relative fall is the decline in the contribution of the North Sea, in turn a combination of a falling oil price and falling North Sea output.” Scotland’s GDP per capita has grown 0.9 per cent between 2014 and 2017, the figures show.

This compares with 3.2 per cent across the rest of the UK and lower than other small European nations like Finland (3.7 per cent), Denmark (2.7 per cent) and Sweden (3.6 per cent) which all rank above Scotland. More recent figures indicate that Scotland’s economy is recovering after an improvement in the North Sea industry which has seen the global oil price increase. SNP ministers see improving productivity as vital to reviving the struggling economy, which will lead to better jobs,