Official Statistics Show 187 Unemployed in Broughty Ferry are in Receipt of Job Seeker's Allowance

Yesterday, the July 2013 UK Government statistics for unemployment were released. 

Based on the numbers in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance the figures for The Ferry are as follows:

Broughty Ferry 67    2.2 per cent

Balgillo              43    1.0 per cent

Barnhill             48     1.6 per cent

West Ferry        29     1.0 per cent

A total of 187 people in The Ferry ward were claiming Job Seekers Allowance out of work benefit in the latest month (July) , according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

When the September count is released we should unfortunately expect to see a rise as unemployed graduates and school leavers are eligible to claim Job Seeker's Allowance.

The real number of unemployed people is likely to be higher than this as the more  accurate model-based figures from the ONS put the latest available unemployment rate for Dundee as a whole at just over 10 per cent (for the period April 2012- March 2013) which is in excess of the percentage measured by claimants of Job Seekers' Allowance. .

Unemployment inflicts misery on families and households as it usually leads to a drastic reduction in household income and thereby narrows the social contacts that are necessary to maintain a decent family life.

Each person who is unemployed is 100 per cent unemployed and the older that he or she is, the less likely they are to find further employment, which merely adds to the demoralization that unemployment produces.

The unused skills and abilities of the unemployed also represent a waste of potential economic activity that could benefit both the national and the local economy. 

A Dundee Statistic to Celebrate - Increase in Percentage of Graduates Working in the City

Click on table to enlarge

Recently published government figures, show that the percentage of people with degree level qualifications has steadily increased. 

For example, in Dundee the proportion of folk with degree level qualifications who are in work and aged 25-64 has increased from 20.4% in 2004 to 34.1% in 2012. This is a statistic to celebrate.

It should boost the city’s self-confidence to know that on this measure in 2012 our Dundee score of 34.1% is above the average for Scotland which stands at 31.1%. It is also above the level for the neighbouring council areas, Fife 30.3%, Angus 25.7% and Perth and Kinross 31.4%.

This should make Dundee very attractive to prospective inward investors. It also demonstrates the potential of education to play a major role in promoting the city’s economic fortunes.

Graduate Unemployment Figures Very Disappointing

In April this year Citizens' Advice Scotland recognised that for some time their advice bureau advisers across Scotland had been reporting an increase in the numbers of graduates who were facing financial problems because they could not get work.   Citizens' Advice Scotland decided to undertake a survey to investigate the extent of these problems, and to give those affected a platform to have their say.


Yesterday Citizen's Advice Scotland revealed the results from this survey of  Scottish graduates.  Their report records that over half of respondents said they had experienced a period of unemployment after graduating with 20% reporting to have been unemployed for over a year.


Most Scots graduates went to university to get an education, to enhance their skills and to enhance their employability. It is therefore very disappointing to hear that so many graduates are experiencing long periods of worklessness.

Unfortunately this picture was not unexpected to me. Running up to the May 2012 local government elections, a number of unemployed graduates living in Broughty Ferry wrote to invite my response to their graduate unemployment. Others were disillusioned to find that their only option, job wise, was to return to their holiday employer doing a job for which they are now over qualified. 


Significantly this generation of young people is referred to as 'the boomerang generation', leaving home to go to University and College but returning to the parental home when they couldn't find work and had clocked up mountains of student debt now weighing heavily on their shoulders.