R_IND_AG = (IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag * 100.0) / INDUSTRY_TOT:total
| Data Role | Period Covered | Authority | Source | Details | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1841 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1841 Census of Great Britain, Occupations, Table [1] , 'Occupation Abstract' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1861 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1861 Census of Scotland, Ages, Table [26] , 'Summary Table of the Occupations of the People in Scotland' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1881 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1881 Census of Scotland, Ages, Table [32] , 'Occupations of Males and Females at different Ages in each of the Counties of Scotland' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1911 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1911 Census of Scotland, County Report, Table 22 , 'Occupations of males and females aged 10 years and upwards, in eleven groups of ages, and by status' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1931 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1931 Census of Scotland, Occupations, Table 16 , 'Industries of Males and Females in Cities, Counties, and Large Burghs' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1951 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1951 Census of Scotland, Occupations, Table 13 , 'Industry of Occupied Population by place of work', for 'Cities, Counties and Large Burghs' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1971 | SRC | GBH Source Documentation System | 1971 Census of Scotland, Economic activity, Table 3 , 'Industry and status by area of workplace and sex (10% sample)', for 'Planning sub-regions, cities, counties, large burghs, county remainders, conurbation centre, new towns' | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 1991 | CEN | Census of Population | Census of Population | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2001 | ScotCen | Scotland's Census | National Records of Scotland, Scotland's Census (Table UV34, Industry (17 way)) | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2011 | NOMIS | NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics | Office for National Statistics, NOMIS - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (Table KS605UK - Industry) | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
| IND_SECTOR_5WAY:ag | 2021 | ScotCen | Scotland's Census | National Records of Scotland, Scotland's Census (Table UV605, "Industry") | Exact count provided by a government statistical office for this area |
Today agriculture (including fishing) is a tiny sector, employing under 2% of the workforce.
Even in 1841 it employed only 20% of workers.
Employment in the sector dropped as a proportion of all workers to 12% in 1881 and 5% in 1951,
but the actual numbers fell much more slowly, from 1.2m in 1841 to 1m. in 1951.
Mechanisation of farms in the 1950s and 1960s led to a much more rapid decline,
so there were only about half a million workers left in 1971.
Over this period the geographical distribution of agricultural workers changed little.
It only changed in the late 20th century as agriculture became less important and
some of these areas saw rapid population growth to support other industries.