Scottish Secretary Comments On October Labour Market Statistics

12th October 2022

As new ONS figures show a strong labour market, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack says the UK Government's focus on economic growth will benefit people across the UK.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said, "With the unemployment rate at a historic low, and many more people on the payroll than this time last year, today's figures show that Scotland’s labour market remains strong.

The UK Government’s overarching priority is economic growth, for the benefit of people in Scotland and across the whole of the UK. One of the best ways to achieve this is getting even more people into highly skilled, well paid jobs, to help them and their families thrive.

We’ve also put an extensive support package in place to help those worried about the cost of living in the short term. This includes protecting millions of the most vulnerable families with at least £1,200 of direct payments and saving households an average of £1,000 a year through our new Energy Price Guarantee.

Figures from the ONS show unemployment at 3.3 per cent in Scotland, down 1.1 p.p. since the same time last year. Scotland’s employment rate is at 75.8 per cent, an increase of 1.5 p.p. over the last year.