Scottish Secretary responds to Labour Market stats for July 2024
Ian Murray says government is wasting no time to deliver change for people across the UK

Responding to the latest Labour Market Statistics published this morning Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said:
āThese worrying figures reflect the economic situation this government has inherited, but weāre wasting no time to deliver change for people across the UK.
āJust this week in the Kingās Speech, the government outlined a raft of bills to unlock growth and deliver the biggest upgrade of workersā rights in a generation.
āWe want to create more jobs in Scotland ā but crucially good jobs, with secure hours and fair pay. Thatās why resetting the relationship between Scotlandās two governments, working together and delivering better outcomes for the people in Scotland, has been a priority for myself and the Prime Minister.ā
Scottish LMS
- Scotlandās labour market performance has deteriorated on the quarter and is down from 12 months ago.
- Scotlandās unemployment rate at 4.9% during March to May 2024 is a large increase compared to the December 2023 to February 2024 quarter, up 0.8 percentage points.
- This compares to an increase of 0.2 p.p. for the UK overall, which stands at 4.4%, a lower rate than Scotland.
- Scotlandās unemployment rate of 4.9% is up 1.6 p.p. or 45,000 over the year to stand at 133,000. The UK unemployment rate has also slightly weakened with an increase of 0.4 p.p. at 4.4% (+133,000).
- Scotlandās employment rate at 72.9% is somewhat below the UK overall rate of 74.4%. * Over the last quarter, Scotlandās employment rate fell robustly by 1.3 p.p. or 20,000. * Also, employment level is 45,000 down compared to one year ago (-1.7 p.p.).
- In comparison, the UKās employment rate at 74.4% is down 0.1 p.p. on the quarter (-19,000) and down by 1.1 p.p. over the year (-312,000).
- Scotlandās inactivity rate at 23.3% is somewhat above the UKās overall rate of 22.1%.
- This has seen an increase of 0.6 p.p. over the quarter (+21,000) and is up by +0.4 p.p. over the year (+12,000).
- The Scottish Claimant Count for June 2024 increased on the month to 109,300, up 1,300 (1.2%). However, fell on the year by 0.9%, (-1,000).
- However, estimates for payrolled employees in Scotland increased by 3,826 between April and May 2024, and rose by 14,955 between May 2023 and May 2024.