Unemployment in Scotland is four times higher than official figures suggest, a new report has warned.
The country's official jobless rate is just 3.6 per cent - but does not include the more than 350,000 Scots who are neither in work nor looking for a job due to circumstances outside of their control.
The figures were compiled by the Centre for Cities think-tank which analyses regional divides across the UK.
The report found Dundee has Scotland’s highest hidden unemployment rate at 16.3 per cent, followed by Glasgow at 16.1 per cent and Aberdeen at 15.6 per cent.
Edinburgh, which is one of the UK’s best performing cities, has a much lower hidden rate at 9.1 per cent but this is still more than three times its official unemployment rate.
The Centre for Cities said that while some sectors were experiencing a recruitment crisis there were still parts of the country facing a shortage of available jobs.
Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: "Since the pandemic we have seen lots of headlines alluding to record-low numbers of job seekers but Cities Outlook shows there is actually a jobs shortage, with a significant regional divide in involuntary inactivity rates.
"With Britain now likely to enter a recession, the UK Government must address its insufficient action on levelling up so far and act swiftly to create more opportunities that get people back into the labour force in Scotland.
"This will require setting out and implementing an agenda that delivers much-needed investments in skills and public services, while supporting job creation in struggling places."
Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour finance spokesman, said: "Hidden unemployment is detrimental to the people affected and Scotland’s wider economy.
"The Scottish Fiscal Commission has been clear that Scotland’s economy has been lagging the rest of the UK due to poorer workforce participation, this data underlines that fact.
"The SNP has the levers to deal with this. Skills policy, education policy and enterprise support should all be targeted at helping people into work and skilling up working people into better paid work. After 15 years in power, the SNP have failed to even register this issue."
"Scotland needs a strong economy so that we can all prosper but for that we need a government focused on jobs and wages not constitutional distractions."
Scottish Government Employment Minister Richard Lochhead said: "The employment rate in Scotland remains high despite the turbulent economic circumstances including the continued impact of Brexit, high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
“The Scottish Government’s devolved employment support services, No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland, help people of all ages into work, including those furthest from the labour market such as people with health conditions and disabilities. Our Fair Work policy supports the development of a labour market that is open, inclusive and offers quality and rewarding jobs.
“Labour shortages in certain sectors still remain and the Scottish Government is doing all it can to work with businesses and organisations to alleviate them. The UK Government holds key powers over key parts of employment law and I repeat my calls for UK Ministers to establish a joint taskforce on labour market shortages.”
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