I READ the latest unemployment statistics, including those for Scotland, with a degree of skepticism. (Unemployment in Scotland now lower than the UK, October 17). According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Scotland’s unemployment rate was 3.9% between June and August, down from 4.3% in the previous three months. It’s vital that we don’t simply take such figures, whether for Scotland or the UK as a whole, at face value: a consideration of the bigger picture is essential if we’re to address deeper problems in the labour market and the impact of these on individual households, wider society and the economy.

We know that the way unemployment figures are calculated has changed umpteen times since the 1980s – when the Tories started to trumpet decreasing unemployment, they used to be challenged on the figures for precisely this reason. Nowadays, however, the ONS figures seem to be generally accepted as entirely reflecting the health of the labour market, including by some who should know better.

READ MORE: Scotland 'outperforming the UK' as unemployment rate drops

The official unemployment rate in the UK is now said to be as low as it was in 1975; yet this is not the good-news story it would seem to be. What counts as “employment” has changed significantly since that time: there are almost a million people on zero-hours contracts; there are record levels of part-time, temporary and insecure employment in general; and there are record levels of self-employed people, significant numbers of whom are barely scraping a living (a situation which Universal Credit can only make worse). Precarious and low-paid employment are significantly more widespread than they were in the mid-1970s.

The work of economists David Bell and David “Danny” Blanchflower has shown that there’s more slack in the labour market than any headline unemployment rate would imply – due to such under-employment. A UK unemployment rate that took into account under-employment would apparently be almost double the current UK-wide 4% unemployment rate.

It’s imperative that we take into account all those people who are under-employed, ie those who would work longer hours if they could, because under-employment has such a detrimental, even corrosive, impact. If we want to create a fairer society and a healthier economy, we need to shine a light, and keep on shining it, on this part of the bigger picture.

Mo Maclean
Glasgow

THE Institute for Fiscal Studies has reported that Chancellor Philip Hammond will be looking for some £19 billion in his budget in two weeks if he is to honour the promise of the PM Theresa May to end austerity! This is indeed a rather large sum, and the Chancellor must make every effort to address the hardship and misery his party’s welfare policies are inflicting on the vulnerable and poor of society.

On Tuesday in the House of Commons there was yet another debate on the roll-out of Universal Credits, with MPs conveying their constituents’ harrowing experiences. The roll-out is running four years late and this timetable is being extended once again. Welfare cuts must not be part of this month’s budget, considering there is £7bn of cuts still to make their way through the welfare budget from previous Budget announcements.

So, as Budget day draws ever nearer, perhaps Mr Hammond would take on board the new radical tax bands introduced this year by the Scottish Government, which give tax breaks to lower earners while asking those on higher earnings to pay a little more, true progressive taxation. Austerity has resulted in many paying the price for the

rich and powerful, and it is indeed time to end this victimisation of our vulnerable.

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk