Rural Scotland People, Prosperity and Partnership
WhiskyScotch whisky is Scotland's second and the United Kingdom's fifth largest export earning industry. The value of the export earnings from whisky has been rising steadily over the past 20 years and in 1994 exceeded £2,100 million. Following rationalisations in the mid 1980's the level of employment within the industry has stabilised at around 14,500. Distilling is not a labour intensive process and accounts for only 20% of the work force. The bulk of the work force in the industry is in the blending and bottling plants concentrated in the central belt of Scotland . There are, however, especially strong links between the whisky industry and other industries such as agriculture, glass-making, packaging, transport, wholesale and retail sales, and tourism. There are also strong intra-industry links because distillers sell or swap output for blending. The strong backward linkages give the sector a high employment multiplier effect. The Scotch whisky industry is a keystone of Scotland's economic structure and of great significance to its rural economies.
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