UNEMPLOYMENT in Scotland is spiralling out of control, Labour has claimed, after figures showed 231,000 people out of work.

The jobless total rose by 16,000 from October to December, keeping the unemployment rate higher than the UK average.

Unemployment across the UK has risen for eight months in a row and with a rise of 48,000 to 2.67million, it is the worst figure since the end of 1995.

Scotland now has a jobless rate of 8.6% compared to the UK average of 8.4% and young people and women have been badly hit.

There are 102,000 aged 16 to 24 without a job, a rise of 2000 from the previous quarter. The figure includes 85,000 aged 18 to 24. The UK figure for youth unemployment rose by 22,000 to 1.04 million.

The number of women with jobs in Scotland decreased by 34,000 and analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed a UK total of 1,123,000, the highest for 23 years.

Labour leader Johann Lamont said: "Scotland has a national unemployment crisis that is fast spiralling out of control.

"The figures speak for themselves – a third of all jobs being lost in the UK are in Scotland."

Ms Lamont claimed Alex Salmond "has blown his big opportunity to create jobs in Scotland with the replacement Forth Crossing and is instead boosting employment in China, Poland and Spain".

The unemployment total includes people who are out of work but not eligible for benefits and the statistics showed a fall of 200 in January to 141,200 in the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. This is still 1500 more than the same time last year.

The UK figure rose by 6900 to 1.6 million, the 11th consecutive monthly increase.

Scotland Office Minister David Mundell said youth unemployment continued to be a "cause of great concern" and the overall "disappointing" figures showed there were many challenges ahead for the Scottish and UK governments.

He said: "The increased international uncertainty makes it all the more critical for the whole of the UK economy to maintain market confidence. This Government's policies are achieving that aim."

Speaking at a project for young unemployed people in north London, Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Month after month, we see unemployment rising and we see a Government which has dangerous complacency and simply carries on as it is with an economic strategy that is not working."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the figures were bad "although thankfully not quite the disaster we saw at the end of last year".

He added: "With one in three jobseekers looking for work for over a year, and around six unemployed people for every job, the Government's mantra that there are plenty of jobs out there just doesn't ring true."

Grahame Smith, STUC general secretary said the jump in youth unemployment was "particularly alarming".

He added if the Chancellor remained committed to ideological austerity, he would be "choosing to condemn Scotland to suffer the long-term social and economic consequences of embedded worklessness".

Liz Cameron, chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said it was "essential for the Scottish and UK governments to put the private sector first and to recognise it is only business that can reverse the trend of rising unemployment, as more staff are lost from the public sector".

Finance Secretary John Swinney claimed, despite the figures, that Scotland for the 15th consecutive month had a higher employment rate than the UK as a whole.

He added: "We cannot allow the recovery we are building in Scotland to be blown off course by the UK Government's ill-judged economic policy."