paulobrien

Written 19 posts

Scotland’s labour market continues to perform well

16th July 2019

Commenting on this month’s labour market statistics update, released by the ONS for March to May 2019, Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Yet again we are seeing strong results for Scotland’s labour market. Scotland’s employment rate rose over the quarter and year to 75.8%, very close to the highest on record. The unemployment rate fell…

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Renewable electricity at record levels

27th June 2019

Renewable electricity generation in Scotland reached record levels in the first quarter of 2019, the latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) show. In the first quarter of 2019 renewable generation in Scotland was 8,877 GWh, which is enough to power around 88% of Scottish households for a year. This…

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Employment rate in Scotland highest on record

11th June 2019

Commenting on this month’s labour market statistics update, released by the ONS for February to April 2019, Employment Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Yet again we’re seeing records broken in Scotland’s labour market.  “Scotland’s employment rate rose to 75.9%, the highest on record. The unemployment rate fell again, to 3.3%, lower than the UK for the…

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EU continues to be key for Scottish exports

6th June 2019

The value of Scottish goods exported to the EU has increased by 18.6% in the last financial year, according to new statistics. The publication of HMRC’s latest Regional Trade Statistics shows the importance of the EU market to Scotland. Commenting on the statistics, Trade Minister Ivan McKee said: “These are very positive figures and show…

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First year of employment service attracts over 10,000 participants

29th May 2019

Scotland’s first fully devolved employment support service has been accessed by more than 10,000 people in its first year. Fair Start Scotland (FSS), which launched in April 2018, encourages people to access employment support on a voluntary basis. The service has published its latest set of statistics to 29 March 2019 which show that: 10,063…

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Unemployment rate at record low for fifth consecutive month

14th May 2019

Commenting on this month’s labour market statistics update, released by the ONS for January 2019 to March 2019, Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “The Scottish economy and jobs market continues to strengthen. “Scotland’s employment rate is 75.4% and the unemployment rate sits at 3.2%, a new record low and lower than the UK rate of 3.8%. Indeed…

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This week: 12/4/2019

12th April 2019

Offshore wind summit announced Trade unions, offshore wind developers, supply chain companies and government will come together to look at maximising the offshore wind farm sector. The Scottish Government and UK Government will host the Edinburgh summit to look at how UK companies can benefit more from the build-out of offshore wind farms in UK…

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Flexible Workforce Development Fund case study – Liberty Steel

20th February 2019

New College Lanarkshire is working with Liberty Steel to deliver training funded by the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) to workers keeping steel manufacturing at the heart of Scottish industry. The multinational company has a large manufacturing plant in Dalzell, located around a mile from the College’s Motherwell Campus in Ravenscraig.  The Dalzell site, which…

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Unemployment in Scotland falls to lowest ever rate on record

19th February 2019

Commenting on this month’s labour market statistics update, released by the ONS for October to December 2018, Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Despite the huge and continued challenges of Brexit, the Scottish economy and jobs market continues to strengthen. “Scotland’s employment rate rose to 75.5%, close to the highest on record. The unemployment rate fell…

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Unemployment below 100,000 for the first time on record

22nd January 2019

This month’s labour market statistics, released by the ONS for September to November 2018, show unemployment fell below 100,000 in Scotland for the first time on record. Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Despite the huge and continued challenges of Brexit, the Scottish economy remains resilient and our jobs market is strengthening.    “Scotland’s unemployment rate reached…

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