Unemployment Falls Again

Scotland has seen a record rise in employment at the same time as the number of people out of work has continued to fall.

Employment increased by 54,000 over the period January to March, which the Scottish Government hailed as the largest quarterly rise since 1992, when the figures began. 

Unemployment fell for the six month in a row, with the jobless total now at 199,000. 

While the number of people out of work across the UK continued to rise, official figures showed that north of the border there was a drop of 7,000 in the unemployment total over the period January to March. 

The number of Scots who are unemployed, which includes those who are out of work and not claiming benefit, is 21,000 less than the same time last year. 

Figures showed that across the UK the jobless total increased by 15,000 between January and March to 2.52 million. 

The Scottish unemployment rate continues to be below that of the UK as a whole, at 7.3% north of the border compared with 7.8% 

The rise in employment means that there are about 2,517,000 people in work in Scotland. 

However there was a small rise in the number of Scots who are out of work and claiming jobseeker's allowance. 

This was up by 100 from the March total to 136,800 for April.