Plea as fragile recovery continues

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Westminster government must match the Scottish government's commitment to stimulate economic recovery and deliver crucial support for jobs in next week's UK budget, Jim Mather said in response to the employment figures published today.

Mr Mather was commenting after new figures showed that claimant count levels in Scotland fell by 1,000 in May – the fourth consecutive monthly fall in those claiming jobseekers allowance in Scotland.

During the three months to April 2010, Scotland's unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 8.0 per cent. However, last month's three-monthly unemployment rate over the period January to March was 8.1 per cent in Scotland.

The Enterprise Minister reiterated the need for a continued economic stimulus package in the UK.

Mr Mather said: "Scotland is continuing to see fragile signs of recovery. Today's figures highlight a fourth consecutive monthly fall in the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance.

"But we cannot take risks with jobs and recovery through precipitate spending cuts - on top of the cuts already imposed by the UK government this year - and these figures reinforce the importance of the Scottish government deferring further cuts to next year in order to support recovery and maintain employment now.

"The Scottish government's priorities are investing in frontline services and creating and protecting jobs through the implementation of our Economic Recovery Plan, which is directly supporting up to 15,000 jobs.

"Today's figures show that decisive action to support jobs and recovery is what Scotland needs, and is being delivered by this government. And that is exactly what we will be looking for from the UK Chancellor in his budget next week."