First Minister demands emergency jobs summit

Once again young people were among the hardest hit with fears growing that job creation in the private sector is not compensating for losses in the public sector.

In Scotland over the last year, the number of public sector workers fell 23,500 to the lowest level since devolution began. In the third quarter of this year, the total stood at 588,900.

Union leaders called the new jobless total "shocking" and pressed UK Government ministers to take urgent action to stem the flow of job cuts, which continued with news of more than 600 redundancies at travel giant Thomas Cook. Although on a brighter note, Morrisons, the supermarket chain, announced the creation of 7000 jobs across 25 stores.

Fears are growing, however, that if unemployment continues to rise at the current pace, it could reach three million sometime next year.

In Scotland, it increased over the period by 25,000 to 229,000. At the same time the number of Scots with jobs fell by 22,000 to 2,474,000.

In response, the First Minister called for Chancellor George Osborne, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney together with their counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland to meet to "agree a programme of immediate employment creation – a Plan MacB – with a focus on increased infrastructure investment".

No 10 last night did not rule out the prospect, saying: "We will respond to his request when we receive it. Obviously, if other people want to engage constructively and want to support job creation in Scotland or any other part of the country, that's welcome," said a spokesman.

The raft of figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) included:

l UK unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds increased by 54,000 to 1.03 million, the highest since records began in 1992;

l women's unemployment rose by 45,000 to 1.1 million, the highest figure since 1988;

l those out of work for longer than a year shot up by 19,000 in the latest quarter to 868,000, the worst figure since 1996; and

l over the quarter the number of employees fell 252,000 while the number of self-employed rose by 166,000 to the highest level since 1992.

Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, described the latest figures as "disappointing", noting how Scotland "faces a serious set of challenges on employment".

Mr Salmond, however, claimed the UK Government's economic policy was "in a state of collapse", adding: "The Prime Minister's policy of isolation in Europe can only make things worse."

Liz Cameron, of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "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."

Grahame Smith, for the STUC, added: "With long-term unemployment rising and many now facing their second or third Christmas on the dole, it is essential the Coalition revisits its failed economic strategy."

In the Commons, Ed Miliband clashed with David Cameron over the latest figures with the Labour leader accusing the Prime Minister of "betraying a whole generation" as youth unemployment continued to rise. He also focused on public sector job losses, telling MPs that for every job created in the private sector over the last three months, 13 were lost in the public sector. Mr Miliband said the Government's "central economic claim" – that the private sector would fill the gap – "had not been met".

The PM hit back, saying he would not take lectures from a party that put up youth unemployment by 40%. "The reason unemployment is going up is because we are losing jobs in the public sector and we are not growing them fast enough in the private sector, so we need to do everything we can to get our economy moving," he added.

The ONS said job losses in the public sector in the third quarter were 67,000 compared to a rise in the private sector of just 5000.