Highlands MP Danny Alexander celebrates jobs boost
The strath’s Westminster man, Danny Alexander, has welcomed a fall in unemployment in his Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency.
He said the figure has dropped again this quarter, to 1003 – 735 lower than in March 2013 and 84 lower than in February 2014.
“This represents 1.9% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, the 522nd lowest unemployment of the 650 UK constituencies,” he said.
He said national statistics released today (Wednesday) show more people in work across the UK than in the previous five years with almost 700,000 more people in employment than this time last year.
Said Mr Alexander: “In Scotland, there are 68,000 more people in work than this time last year showing that Scots benefit from the combined strength of the UK recovery.
“There's also good news on salaries, with wages rising an average of 1.7% since last year, while inflation has dropped to 1.6%.
"Coupled with the Lib Dem £700 tax cut, which was delivered last month, this means that working people get to keep more of their take home pay, helping to ease the squeeze on family budgets.”
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury insisted: “It is well known that the Highlands have been hugely resilient through these tough times, our very low unemployment rates are testament to that.
“These figures are some of the strongest evidence yet that we are embedding the recovery across the country. We have record numbers in work and unemployment falling at the fastest rate in over a decade.
“With earnings now rising in line with prices and employment rising, these figures reinforce the fact that the only way to higher living standards is to take the difficult decisions needed to deliver our long term economic plan.
“There is still a great deal more to do, but today’s announcement is solid progress on building the stronger economy in a fairer society that Liberal Democrats entered coalition to deliver.”
