Almost half of Scottish workers have less than £1,000 in savings

Previously unpublished Scotland breakdown figures from an RSA/Populus survey published in February on economic insecurity also reveal that 34 per cent of workers in Scotland do not expect to have enough savings to maintain a decent living standard in retirement.

The data also shows that a fifth of workers in Scotland are concerned about the amount of debt they are in, 16 per cent have trouble making ends meet because of income volatility.

And 28 per cent feel they just about manage to make ends meet each month.

Worries over their future earning ability also affects more than a fifth (21 per cent) of Scottish workers who report that the introduction of new technologies has made their job less secure, with 15 per cent afraid that they could experience a period of unemployment in the next two years.

Commenting on the quarterly national accounts, which showed the Household Savings Ratio fell to 6.8 per cent, Jamie Cooke, head of RSA Scotland, said: “These figures reflect the findings of the RSA’s Seven Portraits report, which warned of widespread modern economic insecurity: in Scotland, almost half of workers have less than £1,000 saved, compared to 40 per cent in the UK.

“Economic insecurity is a huge issue and requires big policy solutions, not simply more tinkering: as well as universal childcare, we need more policy experimentation like the basic income trials being explored by the Scottish Government and four Scottish local authorities.”