The two have said that businesses recognise the need to prioritise health and adapt to new ways of working following the coronavirus crisis. However, they have urged that this must not delay urgently implementing an ambitious recovery plan that responds to the scale of the economic challenge Scotland faces. 

As people begin returning to work safely, CBI Scotland has said that two priorities stand out: jobs and investment. Unemployment is the biggest threat to livelihoods and must not be allowed to scar communities across the country. As unemployment falls unevenly, CBI has urged that future policy must be geared towards reversing rather than entrenching inequality. Meanwhile, business investment must bounce back fast to create the jobs of the future and address Scotland’s poor productivity performance.

CBI Scotland has laid out an ambitious, health-first, recovery plan that would help secure a jobs-rich, fair and sustainable future for the economy:

1. Make job creation, skills training and opportunities, especially for young people, the top priority.

• Specific proposals include: expanding existing upskilling and retraining initiatives such as the Transition Training Fund and the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and scaling up PACE to increase the speed at which people can move between roles and sectors to match demand.

2. Invest in the green economy to create new jobs, investment and a more sustainable future.

• Specific proposals include: retrofitting all homes with a high standard of energy efficiency and expanding and quickening the deployment of electric vehicle charging networks through fast-track planning and funding.

3. Kick-start demand and boost competitiveness.

• Specific proposals include: introducing a time-limited scrappage scheme to incentivise the take-up of electric vehicles, extending business rates relief to mid-sized businesses in all sectors to help them press ahead with paused innovation projects and accelerating shovel-ready construction projects.

Tracy Black said: “This unprecedented crisis demands an unprecedented response to get the economy back on track. The Scottish economy was already struggling before COVID-19 hit, and now every single bit of growth matters for people’s jobs and livelihoods.  

“While we live with the virus, any recovery plan must continue to prioritise health as well as the impact on the economy. Urgent interventions are required to create jobs, especially for young people, and investment.

“Speed is of the essence – we know the dangers of long-term unemployment and the impact it has on individuals and communities. That’s why we’re calling for the recovery plan to prioritise jobs and training to support getting people back to work as quickly as possible.

“Ultimately, business and government must find new, innovative ways of working together to support the recovery in the short-term and lay the foundations for a more competitive and sustainable future for the Scottish economy.”

• Read all of our articles relating to COVID-19 here.