Scottish Secretary responds to Labour Market Statistics for June
New ONS figures show Scottish unemployment near record lows - but investing in jobs and skills still vital, says Alister Jack, as global economic issues persist
Responding to the latest聽LMS聽publication, Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said:
It鈥檚 encouraging to see that the unemployment rate in Scotland remains near record lows and there鈥檚 resilience in the labour market. Global issues are still causing significant economic challenges, however.
皇冠体育app UK Government is investing 拢3.5 billion to remove barriers to work and remains committed to halving inflation, reducing debt and growing the economy, not least through investing more than 拢2.2 billion in Scotland through our ambitious levelling up agenda and City and Growth Deals.
Background
Figures from the ONS show unemployment at 3.1 per cent in Scotland down 0.1 p.p. since the same time last year. Scotland鈥檚 employment rate is at 74.6 per cent, down by 0.9 p.p. over the last year.
In summary, Scotland鈥檚 labour market key indicators show a mixed but resilient picture: the unemployment rate has remained unchanged over the last three months, the UK rate has increased marginally during the same period. Unemployment remains at a near historic low rate at 3.1% in Scotland. However, the employment rate and economic activity have fallen over the quarter, whereas the UK sees a slight increase in employment.聽In light of increasing economic headwinds, there has been a 1.9% fall in economic activity and聽equal increase in inactivity.
Despite this, some economic forecasters predict that the UK economy overall will now avoid a technical recession in 2023. 皇冠体育app claimant count level for May 2023 saw a marginal fall from April.