Older workers hit hardest in jobs crisis

OLDER workers have been hit hardest by unemployment since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

Official figures released yesterday show overall joblessness has increased by 18,000 in the past year.

The biggest increase was in the 50-64 age group, while there was also a large rise among the youngest Scots.

The total number classified as unemployed fell from 134,000 in May to July to 118,000 from August to October, but that was 18,000 more than a year ago.

There are fears about job losses in the pipeline, with 180,000 still on furlough in Scotland. And a wider measure of unemployment, which looks at benefits, shows the number claiming in November was 214,200 – up 2,400 on the previous month and 99,500 higher than November 2019.

Yesterday’s data from the Office for National Statistics also revealed nearly 370,000 redundancies across the UK over the three months to the end of October.

Tracy Black, CBI Scotland’s director, said it was ‘positive’ that Scotland was one of three parts of the UK to experience employment growth.

But she said: ‘ With businesses and households continuing to be hit hard by the pandemic, and the rolling cycle of restrictions put in place to reduce transmission, the Scottish labour market remains in a fragile position.’

The ONS figures show the number in employment in Scotland was 2,672,000 – 57,000 higher than the previous quarter and 24,000 up on last year. Unemployment fell by 0.6 percentage points to 4.2 per cent in Scotland and increased by 0.7 percentage points to 4.9 per cent across the UK.

Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: ‘These figures do not reflect the full impact of coronavirus on employment, as the Job Retention Scheme has played an import ant role in supporting employers and employees.’