Commenting on the release of figures which show that Scottish unemployment fell by 8,000 to 5.6% in the three months to October, Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:

“Whilst the fall in Scotland’s unemployment rate and a rise in employment are good news, we still have some concerns about the underlying performance of the Scottish economy in the second half of this year.  External factors such as the renewed fall in world oil prices and lower than expected growth in China are continuing to have an impact on a number of key Scottish sectors.  This could explain the apparent divergence of UK and Scottish growth rates this year.

“Also of concern are the recent reports of fragility in the retail sector in the run up to Christmas at a time when low inflation and rising real incomes ought to be pointing towards strengthening consumer confidence, which has been an important driving factor in our recent economic growth.  This again underlines the need for our Governments and opposition parties to put business first in 2016 and to do more to attract talent and investment into Scotland.”