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Scots Economy Recovering Ahead of Rest of UK
While investigating if the UK’s economy had returned to pre-pandemic levels, an economics expert found that Scotland was recovering “a little bit ahead” of the rest of the UK.
The findings were presented to Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee by Professor Mairi Spowage, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, on the recovery from the pandemic.
She said that while there is variance between industry, on the whole Scotland’s economy is performing above average.
“Both the Scottish and UK economies have just got back to the position they were pre-Covid,” said Spowage. “Which after several years is obviously not brilliant.
“Looking at the very latest data would suggest that Scotland’s a little bit ahead of the UK in terms of recovery.”
While certain industries, such as manufacturing, are “well behind” the rest of the UK, other industries make up for those losses.
One of which being tech, which currently contributes £5 billion gross value added (GVA) to the economy.
According to Jamie Hepburn MSP, the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education, and Science, tech is predicted to be Scotland’s second fastest-growing sector in Scotland over the next six years, trailing the energy sector.
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However, to bolster the foreseeable growth and support Scotland’s economic growth, Hepburn reinforced the need for a more diverse workforce.
According to him, 76% of employers are forecasting increased demand for staff. “We also know there remains a significant gap between the number of opportunities available in the tech sector and the number of people with the right skills to take up these opportunities,” he said at a BCS Digital Skills Network event in March.
The solution moving forward, according to him, is to change the traditional recruitment process to remove opportunities for unconscious bias when hiring.
Doing this would tackle gender inequality in an industry that needs workers more than ever, and yet is only made up of 23% women, with the biggest expected pay gap in the UK at £20,000.
