ANOTHER fall in unemployment and another rise in employment across the UK have been hailed by David Cameron as proof that his long-term economic plan is working.
"Behind the statistics are stories of people finding self-respect and purpose in life," declared the Prime Minister.
But Labour, while welcoming the headline numbers, stressed how working people remained £1600 a year worse off compared to 2010 and pointed to an alarming rise in youth unemployment.
Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said a Labour government would tackle the Tory cost of living crisis by raising the national minimum wage to £8 an hour, stressing: "Tackling low pay is part of our tough but balanced plan to get the deficit down and earn our way to higher living standards for all, not just a few at the top."
Mr Cameron insisted the latest figures showed that the idea the economic recovery was not being felt in Scotland was "simply nonsense".
He was responding to a point raised by Scottish Labour's Pamela Nash, the MP for Airdrie and Shotts, who pointed out unemployment had gone up in her constituency while wage levels had gone down.
Her point followed the publication this week of a Centre for Cities study, which showed that for every 12 jobs created since 2004 in cities in southern England, only one had been created in cities in the rest of the UK.
But the PM stressed how the unemployment rate was lower in Scotland than it was in London, telling MPs: "So the idea that this recovery is only being felt in the south of our country is simply nonsense."
The unemployment rate in Scotland is 5.7 per cent compared to 5.8 per cent across the UK as a whole; the respective employment rates are 74.1 per cent and 73.0 per cent.
Employment north of the border has hit a record high with the number of adults in work now 50,000 more than it was last year.
While the number employed in Scotland rose to 2,612,000 in the period September to November last year, unemployment also increased by 7000 over the quarter to reach 158,000. However, that total is 20,000 lower than it was in the same three months of 2013.
Across the UK, jobless numbers fell over the same period to a six-year low of 1.91m while a record 30.8m people - up 37,000 - were in work.
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