Nicola Sturgeon has made a renewed call for the UK Government to extend the furlough scheme beyond October amid fears unemployment will rocket when it is removed.
The First Minister said the Treasury should follow the example of France and Germany by extending economic support for businesses which were forced to close during lockdown.
It comes as the latest official figures revealed more than 936,000 jobs in Scotland were supported by the UK Government by the end of June - one-third of the country's total workforce.
The Job Retention Scheme furloughed 779,500 workers north of the Border - an increase of more than 45,000 jobs since the end of June - while Westminister also spent £459 million on supporting 157,000 self-employed Scots.
From September 1, employers must contribute towards wage payments - contributing 10% in September and rising to 20% in October.
Holyrood economy secretary Fiona Hyslop has today written to UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to "reconsider" and extend the furlough scheme.
Speaking at her daily media briefing, Sturgeon said: "My worry is furlough is removed sooner than it should be and that is possibly most significant concern right now.
"That's why we're making the case strongly to the UK Government that we should not prematurely end furlough.
"Earlier this week the German government extended its scheme for up to two years."
Asked whether keeping non-essential offices closed could worsen unemployment, the SNP leader added: "I'll put this as bluntly and simply as possible - if we try to do everything right now, we'll end up being able to do nothing because the virus will get out of control again.
"We have to keep a balance and our judgement is - given the numbers of people, and the travel patterns involved - is that if all non-essential office workers and call centre workers went back to offices right now the impact on transmission would be so great we would risk having to close down things that are already open."
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "We are focused on getting our economy back on track with innovative and targeted support.
"We have cut VAT to help restart tourism businesses, our ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme is boosting hospitality businesses, the new £1k job retention bonus will help companies retain staff, and our £2 billion Kickstart scheme to create thousands of high quality jobs for young people.
“There are, undoubtedly, very real economic challenges ahead. But I am clear that the UK Government will continue to do everything possible to support people across the whole of the United Kingdom.”
Hyslop said: “I have today written again to the Chancellor to urge him to reconsider, and to extend the scheme – particularly for areas experiencing local restrictions and sectors that have been particularly hard-hit, including travel and tourism, hospitality, culture and arts and aerospace.
“We learned this week that Germany is likely to extend its own furlough scheme to two years. It is time the UK Government did likewise, and provided much-needed reassurance to Scotland’s employers and furloughed staff.”
