SCC Comment on Scottish Unemployment

Published

12th December 2012

Commenting on the news that Scottish unemployment has fallen by 19,000 in the three months to October but that overall employment also fell during the same period, Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:

'These conflicting figures show underline the challenges that continue to face businesses in Scotland and show that there is no room for complacency in efforts to get our economy back on track. We welcome the fact that the rate of unemployment has fallen below the UK average but figures published by the Office for Budget Responsibility last week revealed that the expectation is that unemployment in the UK as a whole will get worse, to around 8.2% by 2014, before it gets better.

'Our priority must be to focus support on businesses and job creation over the next two years and we cannot afford any distraction from this task. Government must do more to reduce burdens on business and remove the barriers to growth if this is to succeed. Currently many businesses in Scotland are suffering as a result of artificially high rateable values as a result of the revaluation in 2010 which took no account of the longest and deepest recession since the Second World War. Yet the Scottish Government has indicated that it intends to prolong this iniquity for a further two years by delaying the next scheduled rates revaluation to 2017.

'It is the private sector that will be the source of new jobs over the coming years and our businesses must be given the best opportunity to create both wealth and emplyment in Scotland.'

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