Mixed jobs front stats
Stark differences in constituencies
The disparity between employment levels in West Lothian’s two constituencies has been revealed.
New figures released by the Scottish Parliament show that Almond Valley has one of the poorest levels of employment in the country with above average rates of unemployment and economic inactivity.
In stark contrast, figures for the Linlithgow constituency show it has the eight highest level of employment in Scotland and has below average unemployment and economic inactivity.
Garry Clark, Federation of Small Businesses development manager for the East of Scotland, said: “The jobs picture in West Lothian’s two constituencies could hardly be more contrasting.
“Linlithgow has the eighth highest level of employment in Scotland at 79.6 per cent, whereas Almond Valley has one of the poorest at just 72.1 per cent.
“Meanwhile Almond Valley’s unemployment rate is the nineteenth highest in Scotland at 5.1 per cent, compared to just 3.9 per cent in Linlithgow.
“In addition, almost one in four of the working age population in Almond Valley is economically inactive, compared to Linlithgow where it is around one in six.”
Mr Clarke believes that business growth has a central role in tackling the employment inequalities between the two areas.
He said: “There are 18 per cent fewer businesses in Almond Valley compared to Linlithgow despite its population only being around eight per cent lower.
“That means that there is significant scope to grow the business base in the southern part of West Lothian, with recent figures showing that the number of businesses in Almond Valley has grown by 30 per cent between 2010 and 2016.
“We know that 87 per cent of West Lothian’s businesses are small businesses, employing around 18,000 people locally.
“If every small business in West Lothian was supported to create just one new job, we could perhaps get all of the 4100 local unemployed people back to work. That is the challenge local and national government faces and, with the right support for new and existing businesses, they must look to address this.”
Angela Constance, SNP MSP for Almond Valley, said: “While it is encouraging to see the excellent growth in the number of businesses in Almond Valley, the employment figures, exacerbated by some major local job losses in 2017, show that much more needs to be done.
“Many people are being helped by organisations such as Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise to set up their own businesses but we must continue to encourage other companies to relocate to Livingston and the surrounding areas.”
Fiona Hyslop, SNP MSP for Linlithgow, said: “Employment and business statistics can have complex underlying reasons where Almond Valley for example have a number of large-scale employers, whereas the Linlithgow Constituency has much smaller businesses.”