News that Scotland's small and medium enterprises are hiring again is further confirmation that the economy is on the mend.
According to the Clydesdale Bank, SMEs intend to expand staff by 4% on average in 2014, equivalent to 40,000 more workers. This follows December's labour market statistics which showed that Scotland now has a higher employment rate and a lower unemployment rate than England, Wales or Northern Ireland. Scotland's output per head is now second only to the South East of England.
Proof, say the Scottish Government, that Scotland is well placed to become a thriving independent small country in Europe. On the contrary, say Better Together, the recovery only confirms that Scotland doesn't need to break from the UK to thrive. It is not possible to read any direct message from the statistics for the constitutional debate. Independence or the Union - you pays your money and you takes your choice.
But how much money? The director general of the CBI, John Cridland, has called on British businesses to start paying their employees more now that the economy is on the mend. This is a welcome intervention from Britain's leading business lobbying group and one that both sides in the constitutional debate can endorse.
In truth is it is not benevolence that the CBI director is calling for from Britain's bosses, but a recognition of their own economic self interest. If workers don't earn, they can't spend. That is the essence of consumer capitalism. The recovery will be choked off in its infancy if spending on the high streets is not sustained beyond the Christmas period.
The GMB union has estimated that overall wages have fallen in Britain in real terms by nearly 14% since 2008. There is no doubt that pay has been falling behind inflation for fully five years now. This is both economically undesirable and morally untenable. Bank bonuses have returned to pre-crisis levels, so should wages.
The economic recovery so far has been based largely on increased borrowing and increased house prices and it is a rare matter of agreement among British economists that this is unsustainable. But it may take more than moral pressure to ensure that companies lift their employees above minimum wage levels.
Labour has suggested that tax incentives could be offered to businesses that pay their workers a living wage, but the danger here is that public money will be spent bribing businesses to do what they should be doing anyway. Better to legislate for a higher minimum wage than the current £6.31 an hour. Around 900,000 British workers are on this miserly remuneration. The Scottish Government has argued for the minimum wage to be increased at least by the rate of inflation.
If many more women are to be attracted into employment by universal child care, as advocated now by both the Scottish Government and Labour's Ed Miliband, it is essential that they should receive a decent level of remuneration. Otherwise they might as well stay at home.
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