Construction bosses question employment statistics

Building industry bosses have questioned official statistics which claim that employment in Scotland's hard-hit construction sector rose 10 per cent over the past 12 months.

It is the second time the Scottish Building Federation has questioned figures used by the Scottish Government to trumpet its efforts to prioritise public investment in capital projects.

Michael Levack, head of the SBF, said the figure, calculated by the Office for National Statistics, did not chime with other surveys which show a sharp jump in the number of Scots companies going bust.

I struggle to reconcile an apparent boom in construction industry employment over the past 12 months with the reality," he said.