PRESS RELEASE : UK Government Minister for Scotland reacts to LMS for August 2024 [August 2024]

The press release issued by the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland on 13 August 2024.

Kirsty McNeill underlines plans to tackle poverty, grow the economy, and make work pay for hard-working Scots.

The latest Labour Market Statistics have been published today here.

UK Government Minister for Scotland Kirsty McNeill said:

Today’s figures are encouraging but there is still a lot of work to do and the UK Government is going to deliver the change the country needs. Giving people support to join the workforce and the security they need to remain in fairly-paid jobs is vital as we tackle poverty and grow the economy.

We’re banning exploitative zero hour contracts, we’ve taken the first steps to make the national minimum wage a real living wage, and we’re planning JobCentre reform.

Background:

• More information on the Plan to Get Britain Working is available here: Back to Work Plan will help drive economic growth in every region – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• A new Labour Market Advisory Board has been announced, chaired by Professor Paul Gregg. It is a new group of external experts who will provide labour market insight and advice to drive change throughout the system.
• The unemployment rate in Scotland during April to June 2024 was 4.4 per cent, unchanged over the quarter. Scotland’s unemployment rate was slightly above the UK rate of 4.2 per cent.
• The employment rate in Scotland during April to June 2024 was 73.4 per cent, up 0.3 percentage points on the quarter. Scotland’s employment rate was below the UK rate of 74.5 per cent.
• The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work) in Scotland was 23.1 per cent, down 0.3 percentage points on the quarter. Scotland’s economic inactivity rate remains higher than the UK rate of 22.2 per cent.
• Early seasonally adjusted estimates for July 2024 show payrolled employees increased in Scotland by 16,000 (0.7%) up to 2.47 million.This compares with the UK where the number of payrolled employees had risen by 0.8 per cent over the same period.