From Labour Market Trends: August 2026 published today:

In July 2026, the claimant count in Scotland was estimated at 106,800, a decrease of 1,000 (-0.9%) over the month and an increase of 4,600 (4.5%) over the year. The claimant count unemployment rate estimate in July 2026 was 3.6%, compared with 4.3% for the UK as a whole. https://www.gov.scot/publications/labour-market-trends-august-2026/

The 0.7% difference in the claimant count between Scotland and England, amounts to around 25 000 of the 3.58m working age population not on the claimant count, due to better government in Scotland.

How can I say it’s because of ‘better government’ in Scotland? Easy, because if it was the other way round, with a proportionally longer claimant count in Scotland, we know well who’d be blamed.

Earlier news here on unemployment:

Giving greater weight in public contract awards to tackle youth unemployment crisis in UK – Labour Government copies Scotland but only after 12 years!

Burnham needs to copy SNP policies to reduce massive gap in youth unemployment, 55% higher ‘across the UK’ than in Scotland

Unemployment in England 19% higher than in Scotland after nearly 20 years of not being governed by a social democratic party like the SNP

Youth unemployment in Scotland at 10.2% far lower than UK average of 16.2% due to SNP policy focus on youth employment and efforts to align education with employer needs