Overview of the labour market [November 2012]

Inevitably interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the levels and trends in employment and unemployment and again we return to these themes. In addition the UK Government proposals to reform public sector terms and conditions of employment have emerged (see the Public Sector employment section of this Commentary). The employment law proposals emanating from in the Beecroft Report continued to surface at the recent Conservative Party conference (see the February and June issues of the Commentary)

Public sector employment in Scotland [November 2012]

Protest action against government cutbacks took place in October, and this, together with action over pay claims and changes to terms and conditions of employment, may well herald more action over the winter months. The UK Government has announced proposals, to be detailed in the forthcoming Public Services Pensions Bill to increase the retirement age and to effectively reduce pensions for the majority of public sector staff, although ring fencing those within 10 years of retirement

Overview of the labour market [November 2009]

Inevitably current interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the trends and patterns in the unemployment figures and again in this issue we note recent changes in Scottish labour market trends. Initially, however, the increasing recognition of the likelihood of widespread job losses in public sector and recent disputes involving postal services and threats of industrial action by British Airways cabin crew prompt a consideration of both the trends in public sector employment and of trade union membership

Overview of the labour market [March 2013]

Inevitably interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the trends in employment and unemployment and again we return to these themes. Concern is increasingly focusing on the rise in underemployment and the productivity puzzle - why has employment performed better in this recession, whilst the fall in labour productivity is larger and more persistent than in previous recessions. In addition the UK Government proposals reform public sector terms and conditions of employment continue to emerge as do a number of previously heralded changes to employment

Public sector employment in Scotland [June 2012]

Industrial action over proposals to change pension and related conditions continued in the public sector and widened with industrial action planned by the BMA. In 2008 doctors had agreed to changes which meant they would work longer, increase their contributions to their pensions and accept the risk of increased contributions in the future – they believe this agreement has been ignored in recent changes. Public sector employment in Scotland continues to decline. The latest data at the time of writing this section (Q4 2011) indicates that there were 586,600 (553,000 excluding public sector financial institutions) employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 23,800 (3.9%) over the year. Employment in the devolved public sector declined by 19,100 (3.7%) to 490,400, due mainly to a decline in local government employment (down 12,000 over the year)

Overview of the labour market [March 2011]

Inevitably current interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the trends in both employment and unemployment figures and the emerging differences in the patterns of full and part time employment, a theme developed in other sections of this edition. Public interest continues to focus on public sector employment trends and pay and for a further issue we return to these themes. Over the past months there have been a number of developments, most notably a focus on training issues and possible changes to employment tribunals

Public sector employment in Scotland [March 2013]

Inevitably interest focusses on the recent trends in public sector employment; however, the themes of cuts, capacity and targets are indicative of more significant current and medium term issues affecting the public sector. Cuts in staffing and capacity (a 30% reduction in staff and loss of experienced managers) were seen as a contributory reason for the failures by the Department of Transport‟s West Coast rail franchise, as contributing to the failure to pick up the recent food contamination (Local Authorities in England collected some 21% fewer samples in 2011 – 2012 compared to earlier years), and underpinning concerns as to the reduced levels of fire service cover in London. The impact of cuts, capacity and targets on standards of care were highlighted in the publication the Francis Report (The final report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry) and we return to this later

Overview of the labour market [June 2011]

Inevitably current interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the trends in both employment and unemployment figures, a theme developed in other sections of this edition. Public interest continues to focus on public sector employment trends and for a further issue we return to these themes. Of interest is the impact of patterns and behaviour of immigrants to and emigrants from Scotland on recent employment patterns, and initially recent findings are considered

Overview of the labour market [February 2012]

Inevitably current interest in the Scottish labour market continues to focus on the levels and trends in employment and unemployment and again we return to these themes. In addition the UK Government has announced plans to 'radically reform employment relations' (Vince Cable 23.11.2011), in Scotland the proposals to introduce both a national police force and national fire service have been published. Attention also focussed on the rates of pay and bonuses in the financial sector to the neglect of pay relativities, other changes in pay, earnings and pensions for other groups, the subject of industrial action within the public sector at the end of 2011

Public Sector employment in Scotland [February 2012]

Some 300,000 public sector workers in Scotland participated in the UK wide public sector strike at the end of November 2011, in response to plans to change pension arrangements, pension links to the CPI, retirement age and contributions. The Government announced a revised arrangement, broadly, although not universally accepted, on 20th December. Public sector employment in Scotland continues to decline. The latest data (Q3 2011) indicates that there were 588,900 (546,000 excluding public sector financial institutions) employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 23,500 (3.8%) since Q3 2010. Employment in the devolved public sector declined by 21,200 (4.1%) to 492,000, due mainly to a decline in local government employment (down 13,300 over the year). Public sector employment (headcount and excluding public sector financial institutions) is now at its lowest since Q4 2001 and in percentage terms the lowest in the current data set (1999 - 2011)