Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer revealed on Friday that Scottish Labour recovery plans to jumpstart Scotland’s economy would create at least 170,000 jobs.
The party leaders said that Scottish Labour’s offer to the electorate will put jobs at the heart of their national recovery plan.
The Scottish Labour leader warned that Scotland faces a national jobs emergency triggered by the pandemic, and recently unveiled the ‘biggest job creation scheme’ in the history of devolution.
The party’s £1.2 billion jobs recovery plan was supported by Mr Starmer as having the ‘scale of ambition necessary to prevent mass unemployment in Scotland’.
Scottish Labour’s election campaign is focused on their ‘National Recovery Plan’ with recovery in five areas: jobs, NHS, education, climate recovery and a communities recovery.
Under Labour’s ‘jobs for recovery’ guarantee every young person and Scot who has struggled to find work is guaranteed a job for at least six months.
The party says their plan comes after the Office of National Statistics warned that unemployment in Scotland rose to 4.3 per cent between March and May.
This was a rise of 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and the highest rate of unemployment in the UK.
The figures also showed that 53,000 fewer people were in employment in Scotland since the previous year. At the end of January 360,000 Scots were furloughed. The guarantee is designed to jumpstart the economy and create well paid, high-skilled work across the country. It will provide participants with six months of employment – and training – administered through a national platform.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “This election in Scotland cannot be about old arguments or personalities – the pandemic has shown us that too much is at risk.
“That is why Scottish Labour’s plan is the only thing on offer with the scale of ambition needed to start Scotland’s recovery from this pandemic.
“Neither Nicola Sturgeon nor Boris Johnson can deliver what is needed to protect lives and livelihoods in the coming months.
“Scotland deserves better than they can offer.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “Scotland is facing a job crisis – and without urgent action, we could see hundreds of thousands of people facing a future out of work.
“Scotland deserves a brighter future – that’s why at this election we’ve set out plans to create at least 170,000 jobs in Scotland.
“That includes a guarantee for every young person or unemployed person to have a job and it is the biggest job creation scheme in the history of devolution.
“Scottish Labour will put national recovery before all else and will focus on what unites us, not what divides us.”
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