STUC on Labour Market Statistics

September 17th 2014

STUC on Labour Market Statistics

September 17th 2014

Commenting on the latest set of official labour market statistics for Scotland published today, Grahame Smith, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) General Secretary said:

"This is a relatively strong set of statistics showing a fall in unemployment and a significant rise in employment. There are, however, a number of reasons to be cautious about the strength and resilience of the labour market recovery.

"The first is the ongoing and unprecedented fall in real wages. The second is the huge rise in self-employment; 10% in the quarter to June. This trend alone provides at least par to the explanation for falling real wages. The third is that no new statistics were provided today on full-time, part-time or under employment.

"It is genuinely remarkable that nearly half of the net new jobs created over the last quarter were filled by people aged over 65. Trends in employment by age are under discussed and hold potentially profound consequences, particularly for young workers. Government at all levels needs to wake up to this now".

ENDS

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