Thousands more jobs in public sector as economy stagnates...

THOUSANDS of extra jobs were created in government, councils and the health service in the past year as private sector workers faced the axe.

Official figures show Scotland’s economy has become more reliant on the public sector over the past 12 months as the economy continues to stagnate.

More than one in five jobs are now in the public sector, increasing by 16,420, or 3 per cent, from 545,000 to 561,500.

Data from Scotland’s chief statistician shows the number of devolved civil service jobs rose by 2,510, or 14 per cent, over the past year, while council jobs increased by 9,670, or 4 per cent.

In contrast, 2,054,700 people worked for private firms in the third quarter of 2019, which was 2.9 per cent lower than the previous year’s total of 2,117,000.

The reduction of 62,300 jobs comes at a time of growing economic concerns facing firms.

The worrying statistics prompted calls for ministers to do more to boost the economy.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: ‘I urge the Scottish Government to use their extensive powers to improve the lives of people across Scotland rather than stoking grievance and conflict by trying to railroad through another independence referendum.’

The latest figures mean 78.5 per cent of all jobs in Scotland are in the private sector, while 21.5 per cent are in the public sector.

There were also smaller increases in the NHS, police and public corporations.

Separate labour market statistics published yesterday showed the total number of people in employment in Scotland fell by 21,000 in the three months to the end of October, to 2,648,000.

At the same time, employment increased across the UK by 24,000, to 32,801,000.

Despite falling employment rates, the number of people signing on as unemployed also fell, by 9,000, in Scotland over the same period, to 100,000.

This gives an overall unemployment rate of 3.7 per cent, which is

‘Fragile and well below trend’

lower than the 3.8 per cent across the UK.

Dr Stuart McIntyre, of the Fraser of Allander Institute, said yesterday: ‘While headline labour market numbers remain relatively good, wider growth in the economy has been fragile.

‘New Scottish GDP data is published tomorrow – covering the three months to September – and is likely to show that, whilst the Scottish economy has returned to growth (thus avoiding a technical recession), performance over the year as a whole has remained fragile and well below trend.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘A strong public sector and a strong private sector are not mutually exclusive – they go hand in hand.

‘Thanks to measures we have taken, including our no compulsory redundancy policy, there are more NHS staff and more police officers per head of population in Scotland compared to the UK as a whole, as well as a significantly lower pupilteacher ratio.’ On the overall decline in employment, Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: ‘These statistics indicate that Brexit may be negatively impacting employment in Scotland.

‘However, there are signs of resilience in our labour market and positive results for those out of work.’