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In the Guardian today:
Britain’s job market ‘floundering’ as companies remain cautious about hiring. Data shows labour market is still in a fragile position due to economic uncertainty, with few signs of recovery
There’s no mention of Scotland in the piece, leaving the thousands of Scottish readers to either think it must be just the same here or, maybe, look elsewhere for the facts.
On hiring, there are signs of stabilization or modest improvements in permanent and temporary placements in early 2026, from REC/KPMG Report on Jobs. https://kpmg.com/uk/en/media/press-releases/2026/02/kpmg-rec-uk-report-on-jobs.html
On unemployment, UK unemployment 40% higher, youth unemployment 40% higher than in Scotland.
The unemployment rate in Scotland at the end of 2025, was 3.7%, down from 3.8% in 2024. In crude terms 5.1 is 1.4 greater than 3.7 but as a percentage, to take account of the millions of people being referred to, unemployment in England is 37.8% higher. There are about 1.8m unemployed in the UK so if the rate was the same in the UK as it is in Scotland, hundreds of thousands of those would be in work. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/headlinelabourforcesurveyindicatorsforscotlandhi11
On youth unemployment, for Scotland in 2023/2024:
The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 10.4 per cent in October 2023 to September 2024. This was 0.7 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (9.7 per cent)
For Scotland in 2023/2024:
The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 10.4 per cent in October 2023 to September 2024. This was 0.7 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (9.7 per cent)
For the UK, in 2023:
The unemployment rate for young people was 14.2%, up from 13.8% from the year before.
Sources:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05871/:
Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:
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Talking-up Scotland 