Scots jobless data continues to buck wider UK trend

Quarterly figures for the number of people out of work in Scotland have again bucked the wider national trend.

There was a rise in the final month, by 2,000, however, which Scottish Labour said showed that a spell of falling unemployment north of the border had come to an end.

Finance spokesman Andy Kerr said: “These figures make grim reading.

“They show that the recent trend of falling unemployment in Scotland is going into reverse.”

The drop of 16,000 between the end of October and January 31 took the total of unemployed people to 218,000.

By contrast, the official labour-market statistics show UK unemployment jumped by 27,000 to a 17-year high of 2.53million and youth joblessness was at record levels,

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work nationwide rose by 30,000 to 974,000, the highest since records began in 1992.

Scottish unemployment stood at 8.1% of the working-age population, just above the UK average of 8%. The fall over the latest three-month period compares with a drop of 13,000 over the final quarter of last year, to 216,000.

Yesterday’s seasonally adjusted figures also showed employment in Scotland increased by 8,000 over the three months to January 31, taking the total to more than 2.4million. Meanwhile, the number of people out of work and claiming jobseekers’ allowance decreased by 2,100 to 137,600 last month.

First Minister Alex Salmond described the figures as very encouraging, saying they represented a substantially improved position for Scotland in terms of economic recovery but he added that next week’s Budget at Westminster could undermine progress.

Mr Salmond said: “It is vital that we don’t have a Scottish economic recovery blown off course by the actions or inactions of the chancellor.”

He said the Scottish Government had been pressing the UK Government on key aspects where it believed action was needed to keep economic recovery on track. The first minister outlined three areas for action, including access to finance, fuel prices and capital investment.

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “I welcome these figures, which show falling unemployment and rising employment in Scotland.

“It is also encouraging to see the first fall in the number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance since September 2010.”

But he said there was no room for complacency, adding: “There are still too many Scots out of work.”

Scottish Chambers of Commerce chief executive Liz Cameron said: “Scotland has once again bucked the trend, with falling unemployment against a background of rising joblessness at a UK level.

“This is testament to the resilience of Scottish businesses in a challenging economic environment and is evidence that optimism may be returning to our outlook in the longer term.”