Scotland's unemployment rate drops slightly to 3.7%

Unemployment in Scotland has fallen slightly to 3.7%, according to the latest figures.

The figure dropped by 0.1 percentage points between July and September, estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest.

The UK-wide unemployment rate rose to 5% over the same period.

There were 101,000 people aged 16 and over looking for work in Scotland in the latest quarter, while about 2.7m people were in employment, according to the ONS estimates.

The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 74.3%, which was down by 0.7% on the previous quarter, and below the 75% level for the UK as a whole.

The number of economically inactive people in Scotland aged between 16 and 64 was estimated to have increased to 774,000 in the latest quarter - a rise of 0.8%.

That includes people who have long-term illness, as well as full-time students and those with family caring roles.

Economic growth call

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: "Despite economic challenges Scotland continues to have a lower unemployment rate than the UK as a whole.

"We are working with business to attract jobs and investment into Scotland's local and regional economies. However, most of the powers to grow Scotland's economy are reserved to the UK Parliament.

"The chancellor needs to urgently prioritise economic growth in her Autumn Budget, including by revisiting the damaging decision to raise employer's National Insurance contributions."

Commenting on the UK figures, Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: "Over 329,000 more people have moved into work this year already, but today's figures are exactly why we're stepping up our plan to get Britain working."

The ONS has warned that the reliability of its figures falls short of accredited status, because of weaknesses in the sampling.

These problems have improved since the start of the year, but comparison with 2023 and 2024 is not advised.

Although there were nearly 76,000 people in the total UK sample in the most recent Labour Force Survey, it becomes less reliable as groups get smaller, such as the sample in Scotland.

There are more reliable figures from HM Revenue and Customs, though they only cover those whose income tax is through Pay As You Earn, deducted at source – not including those who are self-employed.

It shows a drop of 16,000 in the number of payrolled employees in Scotland the year to October, a drop of 0.6%.

The same source of information shows that Scottish payrolled employees saw an average increase of 3.6% in monthly pay compared with October last year, higher than the 3.1% increase for the UK as a whole.