Employment rate in Scotland drops as calls grow for furlough extension
furlough job retention scheme which supports wages for locked down jobs which the chancellor said will come to an end in April.There were 2.637 million people aged 16 and over in employment in Scotland, while 123,000 were unemployed, figures showed.The employment rate among those aged 16 to 64 was 73.7% between October and December last year, 0.3% down on the previous quarter.The Scottish figure was in contrast to the UK unemployment rate which rose to 5.1 per cent, up 0.4 points on the previous three months.Jamie Hepburn MSP, the Scottish business Minister said:“These figures reflect some of the challenges faced in the labour market to date but do not reflect the full impact of coronavirus or the outlook for employment."“We have repeatedly