Scottish unemployment at record low

The development represents a decrease over the year of 1.6 percentage points and means Scotland’s unemployment rate is below that of the four UK nations, Labour Market Stats for Mar-May 2017, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

The employment rate increased by 0.7 percentage points over the quarter to 74.1 per cent, and remains the second highest out of the four UK nations. The inactivity rate decreased over the quarter to 22.9 per cent.

Economy Secretary Keith Brown said: “These latest figures show our labour market remains resilient and robust with unemployment now at a record low.

“Our employment rate is also rising, which is good news, and means 25,000 more people are in employment compared to the last quarter.

“When considered alongside the fact that last week’s GDP stats show Scotland’s growth rate over the last quarter to be four times that of the UK, this is further evidence of the strength of the Scottish economy.

“It is also encouraging to see that we continue to perform strongly in female participation, with the female unemployment rate falling by 1.0 percentage point over the year. Youth unemployment has fallen from 14 per cent since 2007 and now stands at 8.4 per cent and continues to be amongst the lowest of all EU countries.

“Although we welcome these figures, we realise there is still much work to do and we remain focussed on further strengthening the Scottish economy.

“While we are doing all we can to support employment, clearly the biggest threat to Scotland’s labour market continues to be the effects of a hard Brexit, which threatens to cost our economy up to £11 billion a year from 2030, and 80,000 jobs over a decade.

“As a result of Brexit real wages are falling and households are seeing their incomes squeezed. This squeeze in living standards also feeds through to the wider economy, reducing consumer spending and hurting retail sectors.”

Colin Borland, Federation of Small Businesses’ head of devolved nations, said: “Unemployment in Scotland is now very low indeed. Overall this is great news for firms and families.

“However some Scottish businesses are also reporting rising skills and labour shortages. Therefore – as Brexit negotiations continue - it is even more important that no matter when they arrived, European nationals who work for or run businesses in Scotland must be allowed to stay.

“Further, official figures show that one in eight of those in work in Scotland are classified as self-employed. As yesterday’s Taylor review suggested, we need to give real help to those that have genuinely set-up on their own. In addition, the UK government needs to carefully tackle the thorny issue of false self-employment.”

Liz Cameron, chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said the news was “extremely welcome”. But stressed that “uncertainties remain over the position of EU workers in businesses right across Scotland, and many businesses continue to report skills shortages and difficulties in being able to find the talents they need to bring to their workforce”.

She added: “That is why government must continue to focus on providing support for upskilling and reskilling people who are unemployed or in work, because Scottish business cannot afford to have rising economic inactivity.

“As Scotland seeks to internationalise our trade, we need skills in the likes of ecommerce, yet there is no formal university degree in this discipline, nor is there yet a government strategy that comprehends and embraces it.”