Scotland's Economy

Labour Market Statistics

February 22, 2013 by Angela Constance MSP No Comments | Category Economy

I am not much of a ‘blogger’ but labour stats day comes but once a month, every month, and press releases, media interviews and 140 characters on Twitter don’t give you the bandwidth to express in detail what you feel and think of the latest statistical release.

I have often said that tackling unemployment for me is not just a political commitment, but a personal commitment.  I grew up in West Lothian in the 1980s when male unemployment was running at one in four, and my father was one of those statistics for two years.  I know the impact that unemployment has on families and communities, because I grew up with it, and as a former social worker I know that unemployment impacts on an individual’s self esteem, confidence, physical and  mental health, and for young people it can stunt and scar their future life chances.

When studying the Office of National Statistics releases, I always look at the total number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds.  This weekthat figure was 74,000. Now that is preferable to 113,000 the number of young unemployed Scots when I became Minister for Youth Employment, but there is no getting away from the fact that a youth unemployment rate of 18.4 per cent remains way too high.

Behind the stats there are 74,000 young Scots, each with their own life story and day to day challenge of finding work, and my frustration with statistics is that they never adequately tell the story of what young Scots are experiencing, feeling or living with on a day today basis.

So my starting point, whether the monthly stats are up or down, is that youth unemployment remains too high and continues to be one of the biggest national challenges, and there is always so so much more to do.

But that begs the question ‘so what do the stats tell me’?

Youth unemployment is down. We have 28,000 less unemployed youngsters than we did at this time last year.  Indeed there are 9,000 less unemployed young people than at the same point two years ago. The unemployment rate has fallen by nearly 6 per cent, the largest decrease since current records began in 2006.

The employment figure shows an increase of two per cent, but is still lower than it was in 2008.  Inactivity amongst young people in Scotland while lower than the UK has risen and the prospect of young people leaving the labour market has to be of concern.  It is always important to me to try and really understand the figures, and to dig beneath the headline stats for example, looking at gender differences and long term unemployment.

The ONS statistics are not a perfect measurement, the Annual Population Statistics (APS) are a larger sample over a longer period of time (12 months). Therefore the APS figures are far less positive than the last three monthly ONS releases.  However, the ONS figures demonstrate more recent movement and the reduction in youth unemployment for three consecutive releases is a much welcome step in the right direction.

But to really tackle youth unemployment we need to be in this for the long haul and now is not the time to take our foot of the gas. Therefore as a Government we will continue to invest in Opportunities for All, Modern Apprenticeships and employer recruitment incentives.  Youth unemployment became more acute after the global economic crisis starting in 2008 but we need to be honest – pre-recession rates of youth unemployment peaking at 14 per cent in a time of economic growth were nothing to be proud off. We have serious structural issues as well as current economic problems to address that, in my view, are part and parcel of the constitutional debate about Scotland’s future. However, I think that discussion will be for another blog!

Meantime let us acknowledge the positives, because it will give us the strength to carry on with the huge task that still lies ahead of us, and for the sake of our young people, lets not give into the cylce of despair.

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