Scotland’s employment rate has fallen slightly, down to just over 74%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that from November 2020 to January 2021, employment rates dropped to 74.3% – down 0.6% compared with the previous quarter (August to October 2020).
This has brought Scotland’s employment below the UK rate of 75%.
The latest Labour Force Survey estimated that Scotland’s unemployment rate decreased slightly over the quarter by 0.1%, to 4.1%.
Scotland’s unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 5%.
Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills Jamie Hepburn pointed to separate HM Revenue and Customs early estimates for February, which showed there were 2,331,000 payrolled employees in Scotland - 65,000 lower than a year ago.
“These figures reflect some of the challenges faced in Scotland’s labour market to date but they do not reflect the full impact of coronavirus or the outlook for employment as the Job Retention Scheme continues to help support jobs.
“It is crucial the UK Government keep this scheme in place for as long as it is needed,” he stated.
“The continued progress of the vaccination programme is allowing us to set out more detail on reopening the economy, and our timetable for lifting restrictions, published last week, will give businesses the clarity they need to prepare.”
Dr Stuart McIntyre, head of research at the Fraser of Allander Institute, commented that the Scottish labour market remains in a state of suspended animation, with little change in the headline measures of employment and unemployment over the year to the end of February.
“A key reason for this is the furlough support scheme remaining in place; at the end of January over 360,000 jobs remained on furlough in Scotland.
“It’s important to note that these jobs have not been lost uniformly across Scotland - we’ve seen payroll employment in the North East decline (-5.5%) by more than twice that of Scotland as a whole (-2.7%).
“Meanwhile the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits in Scotland is up nearly 90% on a year ago – this represents an increase of over 100,000 people.”
McIntyre added that while rapid progress in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine may mean that the country is nearing the final phase of the public health campaign, “be in no doubt that we are only approaching the opening phase of the economic recovery”.
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