Meeting of the Parliament 30 September 2015
The Labour motion states that the
“Scottish Government must be more ambitious to improve employment and economic performance”.
What is the position in Scotland? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development stated recently in written evidence to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee that
“Scotland’s economy is generally performing well, with high levels of employment and low levels of unemployment. In ‘Old European’ terms, we are streets ahead of others in ... labour market engagement.”
In its written evidence for the committee’s inquiry on work, wages and wellbeing in the Scottish labour market, Unison highlighted that
“In Scotland almost all public sector employers pay the Scottish Living Wage and have a mechanism for uprating it. This is a significantly better position than the rest of the UK.”
The Scottish labour force survey shows that Scotland has the highest employment rate and the lowest inactivity rate of the four UK nations; the Scottish employment rate is 74 per cent, which is higher than that of any other UK nation. In Scotland over the past year, the employment level has increased and the unemployment rate has reduced, while youth employment in Scotland is at its highest level since 2005. The same survey identifies that the Scottish female employment rate is higher than the UK’s, and Eurostat figures that cover the period from January to March 2015 show that Scotland had the second-highest rate of female employment across Europe.