| The latest figures from the Department of Work and Pensions paint a dismal picture of the city, with 4000 people out of work — 6.7% of the population. The city also has the highest percentage — 4.2% — of people on jobseeker’s allowance.
Although 77,000 still have jobs, the weight of substantial redundancies at NCR, Tesco, Wood Group and IMP Conex have impacted severely on the city’s economy, although a tiny ray of light has illuminated the drab jobseekers figures by showing a 0.3% decrease compared to earlier this year.
Councillor Joe Morrow, Dundee City Council economic development convener, said, “While these statistics are disappointing, they reflect the heavy job losses in manufacturing in the city announced earlier this year.
“Every effort is being made to help the individuals involved to get back into work, training and education as quickly as possible.”
Only Glasgow and North Ayrshire exceeded Dundee’s jobless percentage, but were below the city in terms of numbers on the jobseeker’s roll.
The total number of people in employment in Scotland stands at 2.542 million, 12,000 higher than in the previous quarter and 83,000 higher than a year ago.
Scottish Secretary Des Browne described the statistics as yet another impressive set of figures, and noted they stood close to the historic low, with a 2.7% unemploy-ment rate. Mr Browne said these and other statistics showed Scotland had not only a strong labour market but also a very healthy economy overall.
Angus showed a 5% jobless total, (2.3% claiming allowance), Fife 5.8% (2.9%) and Perth & Kinross 3.9% (1.4%).
Meanwhile, there was brighter news from the committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers, representing the major institutions, which show that Dundee had 10 more new businesses starting up in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, with a total of 475 new starts throughout the year.
* Unemployment also continued to fall UK-wide. The jobless total was cut by 28,000 in the three months to July to 1.65 million, the lowest for more than a year, while the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance was 852,900 in August, down by 4200 from the previous month.
The number of people in work increased by 84,000 over the previous quarter to reach a record high of 29.1 million. |
