Meeting of the Parliament 30 September 2015
Improving the lives of working people and reducing inequalities are—rightly—at the centre of the debate. They are key to transforming the Scottish economy’s productivity and translating economic growth into prosperity for all, and of course they are what the Labour and trade union movement is—and always has been—all about.
It is important to recognise the scale of the challenge that we face. In comparison with seven years ago, employment rates have fallen and full-time work levels have gone down, while part-time working and underemployment levels have gone up. Real wages have fallen and in-work poverty has increased. Those problems affect men, and especially women, across the Scottish economy.
As we have just heard, the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee is inquiring into work, wages and wellbeing in the Scottish labour market, and the committee heard more evidence this morning about the prevalence of poorly paid, low-quality jobs in parts of the economy and about the poverty and insecurity that they bring. Dave Watson of Unison Scotland described some of the “ugly” ways in which the worst employers in the care sector exploit their dedicated workers. Liz Cairns of Unite showed how commitments on paying the living wage can be and are avoided by employers subcontracting the work. Rob Gowans of Citizens Advice Scotland reported that half those who are awarded compensation by employment tribunals for unfair dismissal or other reasons are never paid in full, and that is not to mention all those who cannot afford the tribunal fee to bring their case in the first place.
Even in parts of the Scottish economy with high-quality, well-paid jobs, these are challenging times. In recent years, average salaries in the oil and gas industry in the north-east have been much higher than those across the economy as a whole but, in the past few months, that relative advantage has gone into reverse. Far from enjoying uninterrupted economic growth, the north-east regional economy is suffering its sharpest downturn in many years. Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce describes that as a recession in confidence in the oil and gas supply chain.
The scale of the effect is not clear, because neither the Scottish Government nor the UK Government has yet seen fit to measure it. The industry has estimated that as many as 65,000 jobs have been lost across the UK supply chain in the past few months, but no public agency has yet attempted to measure what that means by country, region or sub-sector. It is time that they did so.
The impact of such a major downturn is not confined to the north-east. Thousands of jobs across the Scottish economy depend directly or indirectly on spending by oil and gas companies and their major contractors. Members from every part of Scotland will have seen jobs lost in their areas.
The Scottish Government needs to act now to quantify the numbers of jobs that have been lost in Scotland and to assess the impact on local and regional economies. Earlier this month, Fergus Ewing made a ministerial statement in response to calls from the Labour Party for him to do so. If employment and productivity in the Scottish economy are to be protected, we need his words to be followed by action.
One of Scottish Labour’s proposals in today’s debate is for devolution of the work programme to local authorities. I listened carefully to what Roseanna Cunningham said, and she is entitled to say that she will listen to and consider the evidence. However, it would be useful to know what ministers’ instinct is. Is their instinct to devolve the work programme to the lowest level that is practically possible or is it to keep control at the centre?