Scotland's Economy

  • Scotland’s labour market continues to perform well

    16th July 2019 by

    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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  • This week: 14/6/19

    14th June 2019 by

    Labour Market Statistics Scotland’s unemployment rate fell again, to 3.3%, lower than the UK for the ninth month in a row. Statistics out this week also showed that Scotland’s employment rate rose to 75.9%, the highest on record. Read more about Scotland’s labour market statistics Modern Apprentices The number of apprentices benefitting from work-based learning has...

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  • Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2017

    12th June 2019 by

    The latest figures from the Scottish Annual Business Statistics show that tourism, food and drink and the creative industries are among the sectors to have grown over 2016-2017. The statistics show an improved performance for the majority of growth sectors within Scotland’s non-financial business economy. Increased approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA) was shown in the...

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  • Employment rate in Scotland highest on record

    11th June 2019 by

    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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  • First year of employment service attracts over 10,000 participants

    29th May 2019 by

    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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  • This week: 03/05/19

    3rd May 2019 by

    New export growth plan launched The Scottish Government has launched ‘A Trading Nation’, an export plan backed by £20 million investment, to help increase the value of Scotland’s overseas exports and provide support to businesses considering overseas trade. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launched the plan at the 22nd National Economic Forum in Edinburgh alongside Economy...

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  • This week: 05/4/19

    5th April 2019 by

    Fair Start Scotland Fair Start Scotland celebrated its first anniversary this week. As Scotland’s first, fully devolved employment support service, Fair Work Minister Jamie Hepburn explains the aims of the service & the role it plays in delivering a fairer, more prosperous economy Read more about Fair Start Scotland Newton Rooms Public Finance and Digital...

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  • The anniversary of a fairer way to find work

    3rd April 2019 by

    One year ago today we launched Scotland’s first, fully devolved employment support service – Fair Start Scotland (FSS). Delivering a fairer, prosperous economy – with a more inclusive workforce – is a priority for the Scottish Government. To achieve this, we aim to deliver a fairer labour market and to continue to enhance the skills...

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  • This week: 22/3/19

    22nd March 2019 by

    Labour Market Statistics Scotland’s Labour Market statistics from November 2018 to January 2019 showed: Scotland’s employment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 75.3% Unemployment in Scotland fell to 3.4%, the lowest rate on record Unemployment rate in Scotland (3.4%) is lower than the UK (3.9%) for sixth month in a row Scotland’s youth employment...

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  • This week: 08/03/19

    8th March 2019 by

    Women in the economy Tackling the gender gap in enterprise is an economic and moral imperative for the Scottish Government, and we have taken various measures to support more women to set up and succeed in business. Actions have seen the proportion of women actively starting a business in Scotland catching-up to the UK average...

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