Employment figures in Scotland still lower than before pandemic
Scotland and London are the only parts of the UK where employment remains lower than before the coronavirus pandemic, the latest labour market figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate in Scotland has remained stable at 4.4 per cent overthepastthreemonthscompared to the previous quarter.
Butwithemploymentincreasing in all but two regions and countries of the UK, the level of employment for those aged 16 to 64 in Scotland lags behind theukaverageandisstilllower than February 2020.
Thefiguresforjunetoaugust 2021revealsscotland'semployment rate is 74.3 per cent, a 0.3 percentagepointincreasefrom the previous three-month period.
However, compared to the three months before the first coronavirus lockdown, estimated employment of working
age Scots was 1.1 percentage points lower.
The year-on-year change for Scotland is that employment hasincreasedby0.2percentage points while unemployment is down by 0.1.
Across the whole of the UK, the employment rate is 75.3 per cent with unemployment standing at 4.5 per cent.
Scotland's employment minister Richard Lochhead said: "For June-august 2021, Scotland's employment rate estimate increased over the quarter to 74.3 per cent and the unemployment rate estimate remained the same over the quarter at 4.4 per cent. Separate HMRC early estimates, also published this morning, show 15,000 more payrolled employees in September than August 2021. However, this is 12,000 fewer payrolled employees compared with February 2020, which reflects our gradual ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic.
"The Scottish Government will continue to do all we can to support employees and employers and we are carefully monitoring any impact on employmentresultingfromthe withdrawal of the UK Government's Job Retention Scheme."
Mr Lochhead argued that the Scottish Government was investing more than £1 billion over the current financial year on job creation, training and skills, but suggested that the UK Government "needs to take action on immigration policy" to address worker shortages in some sectors.