Increase in number of jobless in Scotland as employment rate falls

Scotland’s jobless total rose by 11,000 in the three months to November.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show unemployment stood at 139,000, although it was down 12,000 over the year.

The Scottish unemployment rate was 5.1%, above the 4.8% figure for the UK as a whole.

The figures also show the number of people in employment in Scotland fell by 14,000 over the three months to November to stand at 2,604,000.

Scotland’s employment rate fell 0.5 percentage points over the quarter to 73.4%, which is below the UK average of 74.5%.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) fell 1,100 to 52,700 in December, which was down by 11,200 on the same month of 2015.

Figures for the number of people claiming JSA and Universal Credit were down 1,600 over the month at 81,500.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: “Today’s statistics underline the need for the Scottish Government to focus all their efforts on supporting jobs and economic growth, because they paint a worrying picture.

“The UK Government has devolved a raft of new powers to Holyrood, agreed a fair financial settlement as a strong foundation, and delivered £800 million of extra investment for the Scottish Government to spend.

“The Scottish Government now needs to use all of these powers to secure and strengthen Scotland’s economy.”

The Scottish Government said the figures show the overall unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points over the year to 5.1%.

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokeswoman Carolyn Caddick said: “The only sustainable long-term route out of this is significant investment in education and skills, which is something the Scottish Liberal Democrats will continue to champion.”

Labour called for the Scottish Government to commission a study into economic activity in Scotland.