Jobs blow as more women out of work

By Rachel Watson Deputy Scottish Political Editor

A RIse in women losing their jobs has helped to push up scotland’s jobless rate – as employment in the rest of the UK grows.

Overall, official figures show the number of people out of work north of the Border has risen by 5,000 in the past three months.

Union bosses last night raised fears over the findings by an Office for National statistics (ONs) report. They said that the scottish Government must act to ensure more people are in long-term, well-paid work.

Voicing concern at the soaring number of women out of work, they called for employers and ministers to look at ways to encourage mothers and carers into the workplace.

In the final quarter of last year around 118,000 people were unemployed. There were 2,664,000 in work between November and January, with 8,000 workers leaving employment in scotland.

The ONs figures show the number of jobless scots under 65 rose 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 per cent between November and January.

They also show soaring rates of women out of work – with 14,000 losing their jobs and 11,000 unemployed.

In stark contrast, 6,000 men found work – with a 6,000 fall in male unemployment.

In the rest of the UK an additional 38,000 people found employment in the previous quarter. Yesterday, sTUC general secretary Grahame smith said: ‘While the scottish labour market data can be volatile, the rise in female unemployment and fall in female employment is a particular concern.

‘Women are more likely to have caring responsibilities for

‘Worrying figures’

children and other relatives, and often the only suitable work available which allows women to accommodate this is parttime, low paid and precarious in nature.

‘This means women are often disadvantaged twice over – first in terms of labour market participation and second in terms of working in low-paid, undervalued occupations such as cleaning, catering, clerical and care work.’

Andy Willox, the Federation of small Businesses’ scottish policy convener, said: ‘These worrying figures show that scotland’s headline jobs metrics are both moving in the wrong direction.

‘The scottish Government could do worse than using our public sector’s enormous spending power to kickstart local economies.’

Last night, scottish secretary David Mundell said: ‘I urge the scottish Government to use its considerable powers to strengthen the economy and help create the right conditions for sustained long-term employment.’

Although the scottish Government yesterday acknowledged employment was down in the last quarter, it claimed the rate of women in employment is higher in scotland compared to the rest of the UK.

scottish employability Minister Jamie hepburn said: ‘Once more, we continue to outperform the UK on employment and unemployment rates for young people and women – 71.5 per cent of women and 58.8 per cent of young people are in employment in scotland, compared to 70.9 per cent of women and 54.5 per cent of young people in the UK.’