³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

This month's unemployment figures weren't quite as bad as some had feared, but they continue to head north.

There's still a gap in Scotland's favour, when compared with the rest of the United Kingdom. But the rate at which Scottish figures are growing, in comparison with the rest of Britain, is "starting to look worrying", according to Stirling economist Professor David Bell.

Scotland's got 4.7% of the labour market on Jobseekers' Allowance, while the UK figure is 5%.

On the International Labour Organisation figures, measuring the number of people seeking work over a three-month period, Scotland's up to 7% while the UK figure is 7.9%.

The only parts of the UK with lower unemployment were south-east, south-west and east England, and Northern Ireland, which shares with Scotland a high proportion of public sector employees.

There are plenty worrying aspects to the human stories behind these percentages. The most worrying is for young people, with Scotland's claimant count among those aged 18 to 24 now up to 41,800. That's a rise of 79% since August 2007.

The problem for them is being more vulnerable to the axe when jobs are being cut. And for those setting out, it's difficult to get a job without experience, when there are plenty experienced people with whom they're competing. Not having made a good start to their working lives, there's evidence that they suffer from lower earnings even after the economy as a whole has improved.

David Bell's analysis is that it is the older group of workers who are having the least bad recession. And drilling down, he finds it is Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire that are the areas of Scotland facing the worst of the recession.

Watch out also for the numbers dropping out of the labour market. Across Britain, the numbers of "economically inactive" was very close to eight million in early summer, up 125,000 on the year.

The stereotype is of women opting to stay at home with children, but the stereotype is clearly not telling the whole story. Men accounted for 3.28 million of those opters-out.

It's partly explained by half a million people of working age who have retired early. More than two million are out of the jobs market because they're students. Slightly more than that are looking after their family or home. Another two million-plus have long-term illness.

Then there's 60,000 people - nearly doubled over the past two years, and still climbing steeply - who have stopped looking for work because they're "discouraged".

It's also worth bearing the international picture in mind. The Office for National Statistics offers comparisons with other European nations' figures from July. It shows, on the broader ILO count, that Britain could be doing a lot worse.

The comparable UK figure was 7.7% - the same as Germany, and slightly higher than Italy. The Europe-wide figure was at 9%, France was on 9.8%, Ireland on 12.5%, Latvia on 17.4% and Spain on 18.5%.

It's the Netherlands that stands out for keeping unemployment lowest in Europe, at 3.4%, while the USA is on 9.5%, following a particularly steep rise.

The bigger picture is more daunting still. The developed world, meaning the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, has seen 15 million people put out of work since the recession began. According to a report out today, it expects another 10 million jobs to go by the end of next year - meaning a near 10% unemployment rate, reaching its highest level since 1945.

Added to the numbers already in the system before recession hit, that makes 57 million across 30 countries. It's a figure that represents a lot of application letters, and probably a lot of discouragement.