Latest unemployment and Jobcentre vacancy figures released

The latest unemployment and Jobcentre vacancy figures are out today for West Lothian (Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) based figures).

• The number of JSA jobless in West Lothian for June is 4,844. This is a decrease of 109 on the previous month.
• West Lothian's unemployment rate of 4.5% is higher than both the Scottish (4.1%) and Great Britain (3.8%) rates. West Lothian's unemployment rate ranks joint 9th highest with South Lanarkshire.
• Youth unemployment (18-24 year olds) in West Lothian for June is 1,515. This is a decrease of 30 on the last month.
• There were 699 notified Jobcentre vacancies in June - a net decrease of 12 from May 2010.
• The ratio of jobseekers to jobcentre vacancies stands at 7 jobseekers for every vacancy advertised in West Lothian jobcentres. In comparison, Scotland's ratio is 6.3:1, Great Britain is 4.2:1 with West Dunbartonshire having the highest ratio of 16:1 (16 jobseekers for every vacancy) of claimants to vacancies of Scottish local authorities.

Scottish school leaver destination results published

The Scottish Government have recently released the 'FOLLOW UP SURVEY OF LEAVERS FROM SCOTTISH SCHOOLS: LEAVERS FROM SCHOOL YEAR 2008/09. The survey presents national information on the destination status of young people approximately 9 months after they left school, from the 2008/09 school year.

The initial (approximately 3 months after leaving school) destination status of these leavers were published in the “Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2008/09” publication on 24 November 2009.

The main findings from the 'Follow up survey of young people from school year 2008/09' shows us that:

• The proportion of school leavers in sustained positive destinations was 85.1% in March 2010, approximately 9 months after leaving school. This compares to 84.0% of school leavers in positive destinations in March 2009.
• The proportion of school leavers in further or higher education rose from 51.0% in March 2009 to 57.5% in March 2010.
• The proportion in employment in March 2010 fell to 22.9% compared to 28.5% in March 2009.
• The proportion unemployed decreased from 15.4% in March 2009 to 14.5% in March 2010.

Read the report here.