Scottish Secretary reacts to Labour Market stats for end of 2024
With unemployment rate at 3.8%, Ian Murray says focus on Plan for Change is vital to ensure access to well-paid work, encourage growth and raise living standards
The latest Labour Market Statistics for Scotland have been published this morning聽 and cover the period September to November 2024, compared with the quarter before (June to August 2024).
Scotland鈥檚 unemployment rate was 3.8 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland鈥檚 unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 4.4 per cent.
Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray said:
Our Plan for Change is creating jobs and opportunities to ensure that everyone across the UK has access to well-paid work. That鈥檚 how we will make lasting improvements in our decade of renewal and growth.
We鈥檙e already making great strides 鈥� introducing huge advances in workers鈥� rights and our National Living Wage boost will see an increase of 拢1,400 a year from April for hundreds of thousands of full-time workers in Scotland.
We鈥檙e continuing to work closely with the Scottish Government to address Scotland鈥檚 inactivity rate through our plan to Get Britain Working. As part of this, Jobcentres across the UK are going through their biggest overhaul in a generation so that those looking for work get the help they really need.
By encouraging investment to deliver growth, we will put more money in people鈥檚 pockets and raise living standards right across the UK.
Summary:
- Estimates for September to November 2024 show that the unemployment rate (16 and over) in Scotland was 3.8 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland鈥檚 unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 4.4 per cent.
- The estimated employment rate for the same period (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work) in Scotland was 74.1 per cent, up 1.0 percentage points from the previous quarter. Scotland鈥檚 employment rate was below the UK rate of 74.8 per cent.
- The estimated economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work) in Scotland was 22.9 per cent, down 0.8 percentage point over the quarter. Scotland鈥檚 economic inactivity rate was above the UK rate of 21.6 per cent.
- The latest early payrolled employee estimates for December 2024 indicate that there were 2.45 million payrolled employees in Scotland. Compared with the same time last year, the number of payrolled employees was down by 11,000 (-0.5 per cent). This compares with a largely unchanged number of payrolled employees for the UK over the same period, falling slightly by 8,000 employees.