Unemployment: September 2011

Financial Scrutiny Unit Briefing 11/76

02 November 2011

The latest Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) briefing provides the latest unemployment data for Scottish Parliament constituency areas including the claimant count rate by alphabetical order, the worst and best performers over the previous month, constituencies ranked by claimant count rate change on the previous month and year.

• Official unemployment rates from the Labour Force Survey are available by Parliamentary constituency area, but data is currently lagged by 9 months and so Claimant Count data is used in this analysis. The claimant count records the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and National Insurance Credits at Jobcentre Plus local offices.
• Official unemployment based on the Labour Force Survey was 7.9% (212,000 people) in Scotland. The Scottish rate was lower than the UK rate for the period June to August 2011.
• The (seasonally-adjusted) Claimant Count rate in Scotland remained at 4.2% in August 2011.
• The number of people on the claimant count (seasonally-adjusted) decreased by 200 from the previous month.
• Over 60 Scottish parliamentary constiuencies experienced a fall in claimant count rate from August to September.
• Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Glasgow Provan and Cunninghame South have the highest unemployment rates among the Scottish Parliament consituencies. The constituencies with the lowest rates are Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West and Eastwood.

View the full briefing here.