Scotland has a hidden jobs crisis

7th April 2017

Scotland has a hidden jobs crisis, with real unemployment standing at nearly 10 per cent.

Analysis from the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has revealed that real unemployment in Scotland between 2015 and 2016 stood at 322,000 – or 9.4 per cent of the labour market.

Why is real unemployment so much higher than the stats we normally see?

Real unemployment is calculated by combining the figure for unemployment people with those who are economically inactive but want a job.

People who are economically inactive but want a job make up 23.8% of those aged 16-64 who are defined as  “Economically inactive”

That's an additional 190,000 people.

What do the experts say?

Professor Brian Ashcroft has written abvout economic inacitivty before. He was warning about real unemployment rising five years ago.

The STUC – Scotland's Trades union Congress – have raised concerns before that official stats don't show the real condition of our jobs market:

“Understandably, the political debate revolves around the headline employment and unemployment rates and rarely addresses these other trends. The STUC has sought to highlight that the true level of demand for labour is not always reflected in the ILO and claimant count and has published regular labour market reports which have included the development of a measure of ‘Scotland’s Full-Time Employment Deficit.'

And the respected think tank the Fraser of Allander Institute recently talked about rising levels of inacitvity:

“[inacitivty rates] have increased over the past 18 months. What is interesting is that women account for much of the rise. The increase in female inactivity of over 50,000 (16-64) coincides with falling unemployment (-19,000) and employment (-32,000) (both 16+) over the past 18 months.”

How would Labour fix this?

We would would stimulate our economy by using the power of procurement to ensure high quality jobs and front load investment in housebuilding.

We'd make work pay and invest in skills so we can comepte for the jobs of the future. Building our economy from the ground up and for the long term. You can read more here.

Agree with our plan? Then help spread our message.