Employment and unemployment in Scotland rise at same time, figures show
The estimated unemployment rate in Scotland for those aged 16 to 64 was 4.2% from December 2024 to February 2025, up 0.3% from the previous quarter. The overall UK rate is 4.4%.
At the same time, the nation's employment rate rose by 0.2% to 74.3%, the Office for National Statistics found. That fell below the UK rate of 75.1%.
The estimated economic activity rate in Scotland was down 0.5% in that period to 22.4%. The same figure for the whole of the UK stood at 21.4%.
Meanwhile, figures from HMCR's pay as you earn (PAYE) system for March show a decrease in the number of payrolled employed of 0.4% in March, compared to the same time the year before.
This compared to a 0.2% decrease across the UK.
The early, seasonally adjusted estimates also show that wages in Scotland rose by 5.3% over that time to £2,508 a month. In England, wages grew by 4.8%.
The claimant count also rose by 3.6% over the past year. The claimant count unemployment rate in March 2025 was 3.8%, compared with 4.7% for the UK as a whole.
Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, said work must be done to build a more resilient economy in Scotland.
She said: 'These figures indicate that Scotland's unemployment rate remains relatively low despite a challenging economic environment.
'However, difficulties persist for those who are economically inactive.
'With the world changing around us, the UK Government needs to change, too, by revisiting its budget and taking action to create jobs and unleash Scotland's economic potential.
'The UK Government can boost growth by pursuing closer trade ties with the European Union and reversing the decision to raise employers' national insurance contributions.
'To build a more resilient economy, the First Minister and I are working with business leaders to develop measures which create jobs and drive growth.
'These will be included in our forthcoming programme for government, which publishes on May 6.'
The UK Government has been approached for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK visa services firm sues ex-boss for £6m over alleged improper use of profits
The company that runs visa services for the UK government is suing its former chief executive for £6m over her alleged improper use of profits earned during a period of record immigration. Cloud Bai-Yun, who once represented the UK on an international ethics and fraud advisory body, is accused by Ecctis of a breach of fiduciary duty, according to court filings. The company claims that she oversaw profit making on a not-for-profit government contract and this money was ultimately used in 2021 to pay her £17.587m for her shares in Ecctis's holding company. Ecctis's claim against Bai-Yun is for £4.63m, plus more than £2m in interest. Bai-Yun said: 'I wholly deny the allegations made against me by the new management of Ecctis and will be defending myself in court.' Ecctis runs the official language tests and qualification recognition services for those applying for certain UK visas or permissions. Under a not-for-profit contract with the Department for Education (DfE), it is claimed that Ecctis was obliged to reinvest any profit earned or to keep a maximum of half of the net gain in reserve. It is alleged that Bai-Yun, who was chief executive from 2014 and a director since 2006, instead improperly approved large dividend payments in 2016 and 2017 to a holding company. Bai-Yun was the sole shareholder of the holding company and in 2021 that money was used to buy her shareholding for £17.587m, it is claimed. The shares were then transferred to an employee-owned trust. Bai-Yun's defence claims there were no restrictions in Ecctis's articles of association on paying dividends and that it was for her as the shareholder to make the decisions on the payments. The legal action by Ecctis follows its repayment to the government of £13.64m after a DfE audit concluded the company had failed to reinvest profits in its services. Bai-Yun, who had moved from being chief executive to chief adviser on the sale of her shares, was asked to resign from the latter role after the 2022 audit. The Guardian revealed details of the scandal in January this year, leading the DfE's most senior civil servant to tell the Common's public accounts committee that officials had undertaken a 'very hard review' of 'serious failings'. The new legal row will be an embarrassment to the DfE, which renewed Ecctis's contract this year with changes that ensured all profits were directly paid to the government. Insiders at the company have voiced concerns that Ecctis continues to hold a monopoly on services they say would be better run directly by the state. Ecctis has seen a huge increase in revenue in recent years owing to historically high levels of immigration, particularly in the post-Brexit period. According to Ecctis's particulars of claim, the payment in 2016 of a £2.16m dividend to the holdings company was questioned at the time by the finance director at the company, Robert Wall. Wall wrote that his understanding was that they were supposed to operate 'as a not-for-profit business', it is claimed. Despite this, the board, with Bai-Yun in attendance, went on to approve a further dividend in 2017 of £2.5m. Ecctis claims the dividends were 'constituted almost entirely of net profit' from the government contracts, leaving it in breach of the agreement with the DfE. The company further alleges: 'In February 2021, funds including the 2017 dividends were passed to the defendant as part of the £17.587m sale price.' Ecctis's claim for £4.6m plus interest in 'remedy' covers only the 2016 and 2017 dividend payments. There is a time limitation on claims. The claim refers, however, to the DfE's audit which found that £16.63m in dividends were paid in total up to 2021 and that this money was ultimately 'put towards the purchase price' of £17.587m paid to Bai-Yun. Ecctis claims Bai-Yun failed in her duty as a director of Ecctis to promote the success of the company and avoid conflicts of interest. In her defence, Bai-Yun claims the price she received for her shares was £17.5m and not £17.587m. She claims there was no contractual restraint on the use of the balance of the net profit once appropriate investments in the services were made. She denies a conflict of interest as she approved the dividends as the shareholder of the holding company, rather than as a director of Ecctis. She claims Wall was mistaken in his understanding of the contract with the DfE. A DfE spokesperson said: 'Our new, strengthened contract, alongside a new leadership team at Ecctis, means the department can continue to work with Ecctis to provide a good service to the public on the recognition of qualifications, which is a requirement under international law.'
The National
an hour ago
- The National
German firm should think again about wind farm near Glen Affric
On August 6 the German company wrote to community councils saying it had submitted its planning application for 20 mega-sized turbines to the Scottish Government in July after consulting with the community and refining its plans. Those 'refinements' are certainly not obvious and it is doubtful they have changed anything at all after public 'feedback'. Cherry-picked viewpoints, misty visuals and turbines not much larger than cows all serve to try and downplay what will be a catastrophic impact for so many. Apparently, interested parties could view the application on the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) website or visit Beauly post office to have access to a hard copy expected to be thousands of pages long. READ MORE: Elon Musk's Tesla applies to supply energy to UK households The reference number they gave was for another wind farm entirely – it was also on their public notification advert on their website. The correct number was only showing as still in scoping on the ECU – not a planning application. Visits to Beauly post office on August 7 – actually a fuel station and busy shop with a shared counter – established there were no documents and the staff had no idea when or if they would arrive. The venue is several miles from the most impacted community in Kilmorack. Accessing large files online is proving difficult, so provisions must be made for Kilmorack to have a hard copy. The chaos didn't stop there. When the planning application finally appeared on the ECU on August 8, it was for 36 turbines with a much higher installed capacity than the 20-turbine application should have. READ MORE: Labour eye 'utterly reckless' bonfire of nuclear energy regulations EnergieKontor has treated the local communities with little more than contempt. The confusion with so many errors has not endeared itself to an already hostile population. This is the third time a foreign wind developer has attempted to industrialise the same hills, and the majority of visitors to EnergieKontor's public 'consultation' tick-box certainly appeared to be firmly against the development. EnergieKontor has a live planning application in for two met masts for Ballach wind farm. When asked how they could submit a planning application without knowing the wind speeds in the area, they replied that they were using 'historic data'. So why did they waste Highland Council's time and our money and bother with the met masts application if they already had the information required? The historic data from German ABO Wind speculators in the same area was 'insufficient wind', and was why they withdrew their unwanted proposal in 2015. Save yourselves some money, EnergieKontor, and do the same. Leave this community in peace. It is heartily sick of speculating developers like you attempting to industrialise where they live for profit. Lyndsey Ward Beauly INSTEAD of providing coverage of the words of the Palestinian Ambassador, Riyad Mansour, at the emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday (called to debate Israel's plan to take over Gaza City), both the BBC and ITV decided to exclusively cover Benjamin Netanyahu's diversionary event promoting 'fake news' about the deliberate starvation and the plethora of unimaginable atrocities conducted on behalf of Netanyahu's fanatical right-wing government. Sadly, although not unexpectedly, many UK newspapers also decided to effectively repeat Netanyahu's propaganda rather than provide a serious attempt at some semblance of reporting balance. READ MORE: John Swinney interview: The FM on indyref2, Israel, energy and more How can any media claiming impartiality refer to 20 despicably-held Israeli 'hostages' without mentioning the thousands of Palestinians who have been summarily abducted, many subsequently suffering from beatings and torture? How can journalists refer to a 'war' without pointing out that Israel has overwhelming military superiority (supported by weapons and intelligence from the US/UK) and is carrying out unfettered destruction and annihilation of the Palestinians? With the latest deliberate slaughter of Palestinian journalists (on the pretext of one being a Hamas operative but with no evidence presented to back this claim) surely it is time for UK journalists, including those at the BBC and ITV, to speak out and end this reporting sham, which in effect helps to facilitate the starvation and continuing massacre of innocent men, women and helpless children. Stan Grodynski Longniddry, East Lothian DAVID Lammy continues to deny information from RAF intelligence flights is passed to the Israeli genocide force. The MoD says that only hostage location information is passed. Somebody is not very good at their job if there are any unfound hostages even after 500-plus flights have taken place since December 2023. I think it would be reasonable if the flights were to continue over Israel so that the location of Palestinians held without trial or legal representation could be established. M Ross Aviemore
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Plans revealed for new 5G masts and equipment in Glasgow's Govan
An application for rights to install electronic communications and apparatus at Helen Street overlooking the M8 has been sent to the planning department by WHP Telecoms Ltd on behalf of Vodafone in conjunction with Cornerstone. The site is owned or managed by Cellnex UK, a radio site infrastructure provider, and if approved the apparatus will form part of the operator's new 5G mobile networks. As part of the development the site will see the removal of six existing antennas and the installation of six new ones. READ NEXT: Low Moss prisoner fractured fellow inmate's eye socket amid an ambush READ NEXT: 5 people to stand trial accused of holding a man hostage at gunpoint In a cover letter to the council's planning department, the developer argues there is significant support from the Government. It reads: 'There is significant UK Government support for the delivery of 5G, particularly as this new connectivity will be a step change from earlier generations of mobile connectivity and will be critical to economic growth and sustainable communities.' Glasgow City Council has also adopted the Scottish Government's vision when it comes to rolling out 5G which states they must 'act collectively' to ensure all of Scotland – including rural areas – benefit from this revolution. The 5G strategy hopes to create better, healthier and happier lives for everyone and for Scotland to be at the forefront of the revolution and established as a leading 5G digital nation. The strategy states: '5G is so much more than an upgrade of previous generations of mobile connectivity. 'It will enable new or enhanced connectivity in the fields of transport, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and remote monitoring – the opportunities are endless. This enhanced connectivity will make us more productive and efficient as a country and play a vital role in the transition to a zero-carbon economy and tackling the climate emergency.'
