Breathe, breathe….
Between November 2018 and January 2019, unemployment rate in Scotland was 3.4% while the UK rate was 3.9%, below 4% for the first time since whenever.
Scottish Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said
‘Scotland is performing particularly well on unemployment rates for women and young people. At 2.6% for women and 7.4% for young people, both rates are at record lows and significantly lower than in the rest of the UK.’
Has the Scottish Government played any part in this?
We know from a parliamentary question that more than £4.5 billion has been given in rates relief to businesses across Scotland since the SNP came to power. We also know that we can say, as in BBC Scotland headlines that major reductions in unemployment and increase in wages, relative to the UK, have come after these subsidies:
We also know that around 50 000 businesses are exempt entirely from business rates.
Full details:
https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190227.pdf
Talking-up Scotland 
Statistics can often lie.
We have a whole demographic of people who are paid a wage, but do no work.
It used to be called the Scottish Office, when real politicians occupied the place.
Now Fluffy and his crew of Peers, dears and Tories from the Shires have a budget of millions to spend, and not much to spend it on, bar anti Scottish agitprop.
Fluffy is also trying to alter the disparity on employment, by allowing Scotland to be decoupled from the Barnett Formula, costing us £billions..
How will they explain THAT in Indyref2?
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Meanwhile some further good news carried on the Scottish Legal site – link and snippets below: (It’s PATENTLY obvious that a Scotland focussed SNP Scottish Govt is good for Scottish business inventiveness!)
https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/ip-expert-hails-further-growth-in-scottish-patent-applications
Patent applications originating from Scotland continue to grow, according to the latest data released by the European Patent Office (EPO).
New figures show that Scottish businesses and inventors filed 299 applications last year – representing a rise of almost seven per cent on the previous year.
The EPO data also found that Scotland ranks ahead of Wales and Northern Ireland based on patents filed.
Paul Chapman, a partner at the Marks & Clerk Edinburgh office, welcomed the increase and said: “Scotland remains a very innovation-led environment with businesses and inventors continuing to lead the way in patent application categories including those relating to oil and gas drilling, medical science and materials analysis.
The statistics represent yet another year-on-year increase in applications, following a 10 per cent rise in applications between 2016 and 2017.
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