West Lothian had just over 3,000 people claiming unemployment benefits in January, according to new figures from the council’s Access2Employment (A2E) team.
The team, which coordinates local and regional programmes to provide employability support for West Lothian residents, said that while the level was 9% lower than in 2020 it was still higher than other parts of south-east Scotland.
And amid the cost of living crisis the number of claimants had increased since December.
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Statistics for January give an overview of employment trends across West Lothian, with data showing a total claimant count of 3,115 (1,860 men/1,255 women), of which 655 were aged 16-24; 1,860 aged 25-49 and 600 aged 50 or over.
A report by the team, which is part of the council’s Economic Development department, said: “Overall, the claimant rate is 9.1% lower than February 2020, however it has increased 3.8% since December 2022, a larger increase than all other City Region areas, Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife.”
The picture painted shows that historic geographic difficulties for job hunters remain, as do pockets of high unemployment amongst the young and old.
Holyrood funding of more than £2m has been spent in the last year backing job creation and training schemes administered by the A2E team.
In its April to December update, the A2E team had 1,804 existing clients and 704 new clients.
It had helped 401 people into work alongside 73 long term unemployed people, with a further 107 helped into positive destinations such as training or college courses.
The report to the Economy, Community Empowerment and Wealth Building Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) added: “Ward data shows a 60:40 ratio of male to female claimants, with notable exceptions being the Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley ward where male unemployment is currently 67% and Linlithgow, with an equal split of male/female claimants.”
There are wide variations across the country in youth unemployment figures too. It is at 15% in the Linlithgow ward, well below the average of 21%, with Armadale & Blackridge, Bathgate, Livingston North and the Whitburn & Blackburn wards all having higher rates of youth unemployment at around 23%.
The employability data set shows that in December 2022, 6,049 individuals in employment were claiming Universal Credit, a reduction of 69 from the previous month, with 65% being female. Linlithgow ward records the lowest claimant count (213) with Whitburn & Blackburn the highest (1,014).
It is estimated that West Lothian has 6,200 residents aged 16-67 who are economically inactive and who want paid employment.
The report added: “Scottish Government commissioning of employability service delivery to councils has required additional resources and incurred additional costs, which were met by annual grant funding.
“West Lothian Council’s total employability funding allocated across all Scottish Government programmes for the period 22/23 was £1.94 million, with activity supplemented by carry over funding from its 21/22 allocation. In addition, City Deal funding of £100,000 has supported targeted, intensive provision for vulnerable adults.”
The Provost, Cathy Muldoon said: "I welcome the report and the initiatives. One thing that seems to be more prominent nationally is work for the Over 50s. What, if anything, is the council and partners doing in trying to get Over 50s back into work? I know it's difficult.
Yvonne Shaw from the Economic Development team said: “We recognise that the skills that they have are vital to the local economy and we can’t afford to lose them”.
She added that research was under way to look at the ways of retaining people in the workforce and encouraging over 50s back into work.
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