Unemployment in Scotland 'four times higher' than official figures as thousands not looking for work

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Unemployment in Scotland is four times higher than official figures suggest, a new report has warned.The country's official jobless rate is just 3.6 per cent - but does not include the more than 350,000 Scots who are neither in work nor looking for a job due to circumstances outside of their control.The figures were compiled by the Centre for Cities think-tank which analyses regional divides across the UK.The report found Dundee has Scotland’s highest hidden unemployment rate at 16.3 per cent, followed by Glasgow at 16.1 per cent and Aberdeen at 15.6 per cent.Edinburgh, which is one of the UK’s best performing cities, has a much lower hidden rate at 9.1 per cent but this is still more than three times its official unemployment rate.The Centre for Cities said that while some sectors were experiencing a recruitment crisis there were still parts of the country facing a shortage of available jobs.Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: "Since the pandemic we have seen lots of headlines alluding to record-low numbers of job seekers but Cities Outlook shows there is actually a jobs shortage, with a significant regional divide in involuntary inactivity rates."With Britain now likely to enter a recession, the UK Government must address its insufficient action on levelling up so far and act swiftly to create more opportunities that get people back into the labour force in Scotland."This will require setting out and implementing an agenda that delivers much-needed investments in skills and public services, while supporting job creation in struggling places."Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour finance spokesman, said: "Hidden unemployment is detrimental to the people affected and Scotland’s wider economy."The Scottish Fiscal Commission has