McAlpine Welcomes Fall in D&G Youth Unemployment
The statistics on Local Area Labour Markets in Scotland were from the Annual Population Survey (APS) for January to December 2013.
The publication presents annual estimates for a wide range of labour market indicators across local authority areas in Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway is among 20 local authorities which have seen increases in their employment rate over the last year.
These latest figures show that unemployment among young people has fallen from 8.2 per cent in 2012 to 7.3 per cent in 2013 – A decrease representing 600 jobs in the area.
Commenting Ms McAlpine said:
“It is very welcome news that 600 fewer young people in Dumfries and Galloway are out of work this year.
“The fact that this trend is reflected across the majority of local authority areas in Scotland is testament to the progress the Scottish Government is making by using the economic levers at their disposal to grow the economy and create jobs and opportunities for our young people.
“The appointment of Angela Constance – who made great progress as Scotland’s first ever dedicated Youth Employment minister – to the position of Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Female Employment is great news and further evidence of the Scottish Government’s commitment to continue to drive down unemployment.”
Notes to editors:
Background
This publication is based on results from the Annual population Survey (APS) January – December 2013 dataset. The Annual Population Survey (APS) combines results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the English, Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey boosts. The boosts increase the sample size which means the APS can provide more robust labour market estimates for local areas compared to the main LFS. The Scottish Government funds the boost to the LFS sample in Scotland, taking the sample size from approximately 5,800 households each year to 20,000 households The APS is the primary source for information on local labour markets providing headline estimates on employment, unemployment and economic activity.
This is the eleventh publication of the series. It aims to provide reliable and up-to-date headline information for local area labour markets and covers employment, underemployment, inactivity and youth participation in the labour market within Scotland and its local authorities. Results are provided for the calendar years (January to December) 2004 to 2013, based on the data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 20 March 2014.
The full statistical publication is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/LALMS-2013
The publication contains information about those in work and those not in work, examining changes at national and local authority area level for:
- employment across various sub-groups of the population
- different types of work people are employed in and which sub-groups may be driving changes in these
- different industry sectors as well as public/private and the third sectors
- different occupations and occupational skill distributions
- changes in unemployment across various sub-groups
- changes in economic inactivity across various sub-groups
- reasons for inactivity and willingness to work
- those who have never worked
Information from the APS is used by the Scottish Government to inform government targets and policies. Some of the many external users of the APS include Local authorities, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, Higher & Further Education sector.
Further information on Labour Market statistics within Scotland can be accessed at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/statistics/browse/Labour-Market
Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About
