Scottish unemployment: women bear brunt as 400 lose jobs every day
The Scottish jobless total reached 231,000 in the final quarter of 2011. Picture: Donald MacLeod
WOMEN are “taking the brunt” of the unemployment crisis in Scotland, with almost 400 losing their jobs each day as the downturn continues to bite.
A further 16,000 Scots joined the dole queue between October and December last year as unemployment returned to its recession level peak. There are now 231,000 Scots out of work.
The situation is worse north of the Border than across the UK, with one in the three of the 48,000 jobs lost UK-wide being from Scotland.
Youth unemployment has topped 100,000 in Scotland, prompting concerns about a lack of urgency on the part of the Scottish Government to solve the crisis.
Unemployment edged up to 2.67 million across the UK, the smallest rise in almost a year, although the figures are expected to continue rising.
Labour leader Johann Lamont said: “Scotland now has a national unemployment crisis that is fast spiralling out of control.
“A third of all jobs being lost in the UK are in Scotland, nearly 400 women are losing their job every day and youth unemployment is now more than 100,000.
“On the day that unemployment in Scotland creeped ever nearer the quarter of a million mark, Alex Salmond was making speeches about separation in London – that tells us everything we need to know about his priorities.”
The figures came as the Bank of England published its quarterly report on inflation. It said the UK economy would “zigzag” this year, dipping in and out of growth, but would avoid going back into recession.
The unemployment rate is still higher in Scotland than it is in the UK as a whole, with 8.6 per cent of Scots not in work compared to 8.4 per cent across the United Kingdom.
The barriers facing women in Scotland’s jobs market lies behind the country’s chronic problems. The number of women on the dole queue jumped by 24,000 to 105,000 – an increase of almost quarter. The number of women in work dropped by 34,000 – about 377 a day – to 1.18 million.
By contrast, there was a small fall in the number men unemployed and rise among those in work.
David Gibbons-Wood, a senior lecturer in economics at Robert Gordon University, said women often choose to work in low-skilled jobs like the service industry.
“I think they’re possibly taking the brunt of this recession,” he said. “This is the first service industry downturn and will it affect women more because there has been a tremendous expansion in female employment in the last 20 or 30 years.
“These figures cover the run-up to Christmas. Everyone on the high street was finding it hard and that’s where many women are employed. So they’re feeling the effect of this.”
The figures also show an increasing reliance on part-time jobs across the UK which rose by 70,000, masking a big fall in full-time work.
Work and pensions minister Lord Freud said: “This clearly shows we are by no means out of the woods yet. But it is quite a mixed picture. There are signs of stability.”
The number of 16-to-24-year olds unemployed hit 102,000 in Scotland between October and December up 2,000 on the previous quarter.
The number of 18-to-24-year olds unemployed has risen by 23,000 on the year, a rise of 38 per cent.
The employment rate for 18 to 24-year-olds north of the Border was 59.4 per cent, compared to 56.5 per cent for the UK as a whole.
Scotland Office minister David Mundell said that youth unemployment continued to be a “cause of great concern”.
To help address this, he said Scottish Secretary Michael Moore would chair a national convention on youth employment in Dundee next month, which he claimed would bring together ministers from both the UK and Scottish governments, employers and the “many organisations involved in supporting young people into work”.
Finance secretary John Swinney said the latest jobless figures made clear that “we need further sustained action to support Scotland’s economic recovery”.
However, he added: “The Westminster government has failed to come forward with the stimulus of increased capital spending to get growth and confidence back into the UK economy.
“That is why the Scottish Government delivered a budget for growth, passed last week by the Scottish Parliament, which boosts public sector capital investment, takes action to tackle unemployment and, in particular, youth unemployment, and enhances economic security.”
While the unemployment total includes people who are out of work but not eligible for benefits, the latest statistics showed a slight drop in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. This fell by 200 in January to 141,200. However, this is still 1,500 more than the same time last year.
Over the period October to December last year 2,458,000 Scots were in work – 28,000 fewer than the same quarter in 2010.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie urged the SNP administration to “finally accept that their Plan MacB was a failure”.
Mr Rennie said: “They should accept that the UK government is right to spend what we can to stimulate the economy without borrowing to a level that is unaffordable.”
Laurie Russell, chief executive of the Glasgow-based Wise Group, which helps unemployed people back into work, backed the Scottish Government’s recent £30m budget to address youth unemployment.
“It is important for the government to make more investment like this, to address the many issues at the root of the unemployment crisis,” he said.
“In times of austerity, the government must ensure that money is being used effectively to create as many new sustainable jobs as possible.”
Sarah Glynn, of the recently formed Scottish Unemployed Workers Network, said not all people who want a job are included in the statistics.
“The real picture is even worse,” she added. “The great majority of unemployed people are desperate to find a job – but, as more are finding, there are very few jobs to be found, and living on benefits is not easy.”
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Comments
There are 49 comments to this article
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Lachie Mhor
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 08:15 PM38 footdee Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:13 AM I do not see any mentin of your Leaders latest best pal, Rupert Murdoch. I have never heard any explanation of Benitos association with a certain bus company. The nonsense that has been publicised about the projected number of jobs to be gained in green power industry is exactly that, nonsense. There have been no gains in jobs, quite the opposite as the published figures show unemployment is on the rise. Your leader has not explained why as he is the Great Leader and in charge of Scotlands destiny, just what he intends doing about this. He has had 6 years to perform an economic miracle. We are all waiting with bated breath for him to perform. Perhaps he should realise that with his past history as a merchant banker a strong economy is an essential element for any country.There is more to life than manufacturing gaelic road signs,destroying an education system and displaying the traits of his namesake. The truth is that we are seeing the true effects of the SNP lies and deceit on the country.
markjacobs
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 09:47 AMimmagration must play a big part in this figure as far as im concerenrd how many foreigners come to scotland who are on job seekers allownace
Arthur G
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 01:01 AMVote No (to drugs and corpraphilia). 'No' one is listening to you.
Arthur G
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:59 AMAgain a slew (or maybe one or two) of bitter, lying, dissembling Onionists on here venting their spleen. ==================================================== I smell the sweaty fear of those who realise their worst nightmare, an independent Scotland, is inexorable and just around the corner. ==================================================== Hardy Har, har, har!
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:30 AMVote 'NO' Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:03 AM 35. What jobs has he created? ------------------really
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:29 AM"Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond yesterday opened Gamesa’s £12.5m Offshore Wind Technology Centre in Strathclyde. The facility is dedicated to the design and development of the company"s offshore wind platforms, the G11X-5MW and the G14X-6-7MW. Gamesa said it is already employing 40 engineers at the centre and hopes to be hiring over 100 by the end of this year, rising to 180 within three years. The official opening took place at the close of the two-day Scottish Low Carbon Investment conference attended by over 100 speakers, including Gamesa CEO Jorge Calvet. Calvet said the company is ready to play a role in the offshore wind market. “Our Offshore Wind Technology Centre in Glasgow represents an important step in this strategy. Our offshore plans could generate significant local, skilled and sustainable jobs over the coming years”, he said."
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:24 AM"Sustained investment in Scotland’s economy has led to new jobs and help for almost a thousand of the country’s companies. Scottish Development International’s international trade and investment activity has directly helped to generate more than 600 million pounds of planned inward investment for the country, creating and safeguarding 9,300 planned jobs, and has helped 950 Scottish companies to target international markets during the last year. Scottish Development International (SDI) plays a key role in supporting the strategy to increase Scotland’s competitiveness in the global economy. Its chief executive, Anne MacColl, said: “2010 was an excellent year for SDI, both in terms of inward and outward results, and we are immensely proud of these achievements. “They illustrate not only that there is growing international confidence in Scotland as a location to invest - last year Scotland was the most successful region in the UK in terms of the overall number of jobs attracted through FDI - but also that our home-grown companies are becoming ever more internationally ambitious. "
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:22 AM"January 31 2012 First Minister Alex Salmond today welcomed the news that Korean giant Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is to base its first European offshore wind project in Fife in an inward venture worth up to £100m that is expected to create more than 500 new jobs in Scotland. The announcement came at the Scottish Offshore Wind and Supply Chain Conference in Aberdeen, at which the First Minister was delivering a keynote speech. In conjunction with its decision to develop its offshore wind technology at the Energy Park in Fife, SHI has signed a multimillion pound deal with East Kilbride-based Clyde Blowers’ owned company, David Brown Gear Systems (David Brown), to supply gearbox systems for its next generation offshore wind turbine."
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:20 AM"FOREIGN investors are creating more jobs in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe and at levels not seen since the start of the recession, according to new figures. Ernst & Young's latest UK attractiveness survey, which analyses inward investment and the attitudes of global investors, shows Scotland attracted 69 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects last year - a 35 per cent increase on the 2009 figure - creating more than 4,000 jobs. Significant projects included the creation of 700 jobs at Hewlett-Packard's Erskine plant and Stena Line's new ferry port facility at Loch Ryan which employed 400."
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:17 AMA yes vote will cleanse the body politic from the corruption of westminster politicians
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:15 AMVote no and Scotland will continue to be run by people like those below
footdee
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:13 AMThe uk is in the same position as France just before the revolution ,poverty is wide spread but the rich continue as before paying little or no taxes as did the nobility in France .labour and the tories continue to court the rich and do them favours-------------"-The Tories went to huge lengths to keep the black-and-white-themed party secret to avoid damaging headlines about ‘Tory fat cats’. Last year’s event caused controversy when The Mail on Sunday revealed how internships with top City firms were auctioned for thousands of pounds for the offspring of party donors. Internships were banned from this year’s auction, conducted by Sotheby’s chairman Henry Wyndham. ----------------------------------------------------------- Instead, guests paid tens of thousands of pounds to take part in bloodsports on country estates. One such item alone went for £55,000 – a day’s shooting for eight guns on the Tusmore Park estate in North Oxfordshire, where ‘pheasants and partridges are the main quarry but duck can be shot as well’. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other lots included a day’s stalking at the Buckhurst Park estate in East Sussex – for which the price was kept secret – and shooting for eight guns on an estate in Chiddingfold, Surrey. A 19-inch statue of Margaret Thatcher sold for £120,000. Dinner for eight with Boris Johnson at Anton Mosimann’s London restaurant also raised £55,000, while an Everest trek with adventurer David Hempleman-Adams went for £20,000. The Tories were so desperate to keep the event secret that they hired bouncers to guard the trendy Battersea Evolution venue in London for the Black And White Party last Monday night – three days after Huhne was told he would be charged.------------ Wealthy backers paid up to £10,000 for tables, with the top price for those close to Mr Cameron and Cabinet Ministers. Table sponsors included hedge fund boss Michael Hintze, Swiss-born banker Henry Angest and controversial former party treasurer Michael Spencer.
Vote 'NO'
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:03 AM35. What jobs has he created? Unemployment is up under Salmond. If he takes thecredit when it's lower (he did), then he also has to take the blame when it's going down the cludgie, yes!
footdee
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 11:59 PMWestminster controls the spending and with a no vote will devastate Scotland
footdee
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 11:56 PMVote no and the uk govt wiill double the unemployment rate in scotland ,the only one saving Scotland from the wrath of the tories is Alex Salmond
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