Scotland's jobless number soars above 100,000 as Brexit impact bites

Unemployment has soared in Scotland to top 100,000 as the impact of Brexit starts to bite, official figures have revealed.

Scotland's employment minister Jamie Hepburn says unemployment is still down over the year

There was a 13,000 rise in the number of Scots out of work in the second quarter of the year.

However, the number of Scots in a job also rose slightly to 3,000, indicating a rise in the number of people coming into the labour market.

It mirrors the situation across the UK where the jobs market continued to boom with a rise of 115,000, while unemployment was also up 31,000, during the period between April and June.

Scottish Government employment minister Jamie Hepburn said the jobless situation Scotland was still strong over the past year.

“Scotland’s employment rate rose over the year to 75.4 per cent and remains close to the highest on record," he said.

"The unemployment rate fell over the year to 3.6 per cent, also close to the record low, and 0.2 percentage points lower than the UK’s (3.9 per cent). Our unemployment rate has now been lower than the UK’s for 11 months in a row."

“Employment outcomes for women and young people continue to be better in Scotland than in the UK – with Scotland’s employment and unemployment rates for both women and those aged 16-24 outperforming the UK’s.

“However, while Scotland’s economy and jobs market remains strong and diverse, the UK Government’s EU exit plans – particularly the increasing likeliness of a ‘no deal’ Brexit – will cost jobs and make people poorer.

Even with the best possible preparations, leaving the EU without a deal will hurt Scotland’s businesses, disrupt trade and impact on all aspects of society.

The employment rate of 75.4 per cent in Scotland means there are about 2.7 million people in employment.

Across the UK, the employment rate stands at 76.1 per cent with around 33 million people in employment.

Over the same period, the unemployment rate in Scotland rose by 0.4 per cent to sit at 3.6 per cent, with around 102,000 people unemployed.

Across the UK, there was a rise of 0.1 per cent in the unemployment rate to 3.9 per cent, with around 1.3 million people unemployed.