Scotland's Economy

  • International Women's Day

    8th March 2013 by

    International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women, as well as acknowledge the challenges they continue to face at home and abroad. In my day to day work as Minister for Youth Employment, I am always struck by the educational accomplishments of the young women that I meet. For example, a...

    Read more

  • Labour Market Statistics

    22nd February 2013 by

    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...

    Read more

  • Scottish EDGE helps aspiring businesses

    18th February 2013 by

    Anyone troubled by Scotland’s business start-up rates would have had a huge boost last week had they been at the EDGE judging panel. The EDGE – Encouraging Dynamic Growth Entrepreneurs – Fund has been led by John Swinney who deserves a watch for not only listening to the challenges start-ups face, but then doing his...

    Read more

  • Learning from small advanced economies

    10th February 2013 by

    As Scotland debates whether or not to become an independent country, there is value in looking to the experience of other small advanced economies. Many small economies have performed strongly over the past few decades; Norway, Sweden, and Singapore to name a few. The small advanced economies have held their share of global GDP constant...

    Read more

  • Reaching new frontiers

    8th February 2013 by

    Science contributes billions to the Scottish economy and supports 170,000 jobs. Yesterday I met representatives of a Scottish partnership, announcing the award of a £100 million life science deal for Lanarkshire company BioCity Scotland and Dundee University – the biggest ever investment of its kind in Scotland, by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative. We’re reaching...

    Read more

  • Purchase to Pay

    24th January 2013 by

    [A seminar for the public sector with the aim of sharing  experiences of good practice with regard to the Purchase To Pay process took place in Edinburgh today. Attendees included representatives from: Cosla; FSB Scotland; local authorities; NHS boards; NDPBs; agencies.] In these challenging economic conditions, it’s vital that the public sector maximises every possible opportunity...

    Read more

  • MESL Microwaves – Globally Connected

    22nd January 2013 by

    Founded in 1964, MESL microwave has established a strong reputation internationally for its microwave products – we export more than 70 per cent of the components we manufacture in the UK to more than 25 territories. In 2008 we recognised the huge opportunities available in the emerging ‘space’ market and through working with Scottish Enterprise...

    Read more

  • State of the Economy Report

    23rd November 2012 by

    This State of the Economy Report comes four years after the height of the financial crisis in autumn 2008. At that time, most forecasters predicted that the world’s major economies would experience a sharp – but relatively short – recession.

    Read more

  • Pre-Budget update on Government Economic Strategy

    10th September 2012 by

    A year has past since we refreshed our Government Economic Strategy (GES) and today we’ve published a report demonstrating progress in our actions to drive growth and develop a more resilient, adaptable economy.

    Read more

  • Chief Economist – State of the Economy

    31st July 2012 by

    The outlook for the Scottish economy is one of continued recovery but with growth below both trend and initial expectations. Scotland is likely to continue to track the trends at the UK level as many of the determinants of UK growth – deleveraging, fiscal consolidation and the Euro crisis – are shared in Scotland.

    Read more