Scotland saw the UK’s second largest fall in employment last year, according a new report.
Figures compiled by sales recruitment firm Aaron Wallis found the number of jobs north of the border fell by 25,000 to 2.69 million last year, a fall of 0.9% compared to 2017.
The growth figure was the second lowest in the UK after the East Midlands which registered a 2.2% fall in employment over 2018.
However, more recent figures have shown Scotland's employment rate reached a record high in the three months of 2019, with employment among Scots of working age rising to just under 76% with the unemployment rate of 3.3% also lower than the UK figure of 3.8%.
The Aaron Wallis report showed that Wales (down 0.8%) and the North East (-0.7%) also suffered falls in employment in 2018.
Yorkshire & The Humber and the North West led regional job growth in 2018, with both registering a 3.5% increase in the number of jobs year-on-year.
The South East saw growth of 1.8% with London up a relatively muted 1.2%, blamed on factors including Brexit leading to a number of financial services companies moving operations away from the capital.
