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 LMS publication, Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said:
It’s encouraging to see that the unemployment rate in Scotland remains near record lows and there’s resilience in the labour market. Global issues are still causing significant economic challenges, however.
The UK Government is investing £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 £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’s employment rate is at 74.6 per cent, down by 0.9 p.p. over the last year.
In summary, Scotland’s 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. In light of increasing economic headwinds, there has been a 1.9% fall in economic activity and equal increase in inactivity.
Despite this, some economic forecasters predict that the UK economy overall will now avoid a technical recession in 2023. The claimant count level for May 2023 saw a marginal fall from April.