Urgent Action Needed To Tackle Unemployment Crisis

Wednesday 14th December 2011

Commenting on the news that Scottish unemployment has risen by 25,000 in the three months to October, Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:

“These unemployment figures are extremely concerning and are a tragedy for all of those individuals and families affected.  Scotland has had the second highest unemployment increase of any part of the UK and the result is that our unemployment rate is now above the UK average.

“The high levels of youth unemployment are of course of particular concern, as we cannot afford for a generation of our young people to lose out on the development of their skills, which our country will so desperately need over the coming years.  With businesses across Scotland battling to see their way through to the general economic recovery, they need the right support from Governments north and south of the border to employ more young people and gear up for future success.

“The Scottish Government now has a dedicated MInister for Youth Employment and has a budget to help turn things around.  What business needs is for these resources to be made available to them directly in order to ensure that government investment has the maximum effect in terms of getting young people back into work.

“Time is of the essence if we are to tackle this crisis and the Chamber of Commerce network is committed to bringing business and government together to make this happen.”

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