Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, is a powerhouse of the Scottish economy, as well as the wider UK economy. Edinburgh has been consistently one of the most prosperous parts of the country and has the strongest economy of any city in the UK outside London. Financial Times FDi Magazine has named Edinburgh as the "Best Large European City of the Future" and "Best Foreign Direct Investment Strategy (Large City)" for 2012/13.
Edinburgh was ranked the 13th largest financial centre internationally and the 4th largest in Europe in 2020.
Economic profile
In 2011, the population of Edinburgh was estimated at 476,600, which was an increase of 28,000 on the figure from 2001 which stood at 448,600. The city has the second-highest gross value added (GVA) per resident (behind London) in major UK cities, with the average being £34,178 per resident. The employment rate for the city stood at 73.6% for Q1 of 2013, which was higher than the rate for Scotland as a whole, which stood at 71.8%. The city has the lowest percentage of total working age residents claiming Jobseeker's Allowance of major UK cities at 3.2% as of December 2012. Edinburgh is second only to London in average gross annual earnings per resident in major UK cities, with an average salary of £27,800.
Top employers
The table below shows the top employers in terms of employee numbers in the City of Edinburgh:
This next table highlights the number of people in employment in the City of Edinburgh by industrial sector:
Key sectors
Financial services
Edinburgh is the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, after the City of London, and the fourth in Europe by equity assets.
Edinburgh has been a centre of banking for over 300 years; the Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695, by an act of the original Parliament of Scotland and is now part of Lloyds Banking Group, who have retained the Scottish headquarters in Edinburgh. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was founded in 1727 by royal charter. In 2000, RBS acquired National Westminster Bank in the biggest banking takeover in British history. It is now part of the NatWest Group, who have also retained the Edinburgh headquarters, operating from a complex at Gogarburn since 2005. TSB, Tesco Bank, Sainsbury’s Bank, and Virgin Money also have headquarters in the city.
In insurance terms, indigenous Edinburgh companies such as Standard Life and Scottish Widows form a large part of the European insurance sector as well as being major employers in the city. Scottish Widows was founded in 1815, managing £145.79 billion worth of funds at June 2013 with a workforce of around 3,500.
The New Town and city centre has traditionally been home to many companies, in the banking, finance and legal professions, but modern needs have caused many to relocate. Immediately to the west of the city centre is the Terry Farrell master-planned Exchange business district, which now houses major employers such as Scottish Widows, Standard Life, the Clydesdale Bank, and Baillie Gifford.
Edinburgh Park is one of the largest business parks in the UK and is located on the western periphery of city, near Edinburgh Airport. The park was opened in 1992 alongside the large out-of-town shopping development at South Gyle and is close to major routes such as the A8, the M8 motorway and the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass and now has its own railway station. Close to Edinburgh Park at Gogarburn, the Royal Bank of Scotland have opened their global headquarters. HSBC, Royal Bank, Diageo, J. P. Morgan, Telewest, BT, Fujitsu and Lloyds Banking Group have all established large offices in this park. Following the opening of the Royal Bank's new headquarters, there will be around 20,000 people working in the western outskirts of the city.