UNEMPLOYMENT in North Ayrshire continues to fall but young people are struggling to find work, figures released last week have revealed.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the employment rate of the UK is at a record high with over 73 per cent of people in work, the highest since records began in 1997 – with Scotland having an employment rate of over 74 per cent.

But in the local area, the 18-24 age group saw an increase in claimants of three per cent, compared with Scotland as a whole where the figure dropped by more than 14 per cent.

As of October 2015, there are 3,371 claimants in North Ayrshire across the three job centres in Saltcoats, Kilbirnie and Irvine.

This is down by 206 from the same period last year but claims from young people have risen by 25 to 850, an increase of 25 people.

Cunninghame North MSP Kenny Gibson said: “With the economic recovery clearly far from entrenched, these latest figures present a mixed bag.

“It is obviously disappointing that unemployment has increased, with almost all of that being in the North East of Scotland following a difficult year for the oil industry.

“It shows that we must take action to ensure the green shoots of recovery are not trampled and potential future losses in the steel industry and Hunterston Coal Terminal may yet see more pain.

"The UK Government’s decision to shed 2,500 jobs at HMRC across Scotland over the next decade will certainly not help matters."

“Of course there is good news as well; for the third year running Scotland has attracted more investment than any other part of the UK outside London.

"The Scottish rate of employment remains higher than the UK as a whole and there has been a marked decline in the number of people claiming job seekers allowance.

“Youth unemployment – which has been a key priority for the Scottish Government – is now nearing pre-recession levels, with the fall in North Ayrshire higher than anywhere else in Scotland."

The MSP continued: “Along with female unemployment, Scottish youth is unemployment is significantly lower than the UK rate.

“It is a well-established fact that investment in infrastructure creates jobs and attracts new industries and investment.

"Sadly, the UK Government has not learned this lesson and continues to slash at Scotland’s capital budget – threatening a number of key infrastructure projects."

Mr Gibson concluded: “With targeted investment, we can create jobs now and build a sustainable recovery, instead of inflicting more pain on households and communities.”

But Cunninghame North Tory candidate Jamie Greene said: “I speak to small businesses across North Ayrshire and the feedback generally is that they are still fearful of the potential of a second referendum and the effect it might have on their long-term success.”

Referring to the Conservatives’ plans in government, he said: “We are committed to a low-tax, high-wage society with full employment.

"To achieve that we need to stick to our guns on welfare reform,

ensure the National Living Wage

is introduced and ensure the personal tax allowance rises, taking

the lowest earners out of tax altogether.

“Given that the SNP hold a majority in Holyrood and the majority of Scottish seats in Westminster, I think there remains an onus on them to tell the people of North

Ayrshire what they are doing about unemployment in the area, what plans they have to help and facilitate new businesses and what provisions they are making to provide opportunities for our young in Scotland."

He continued: "It’s easy to be all talk and criticise Westminster but the power is in their hands to do something about the chronic unemployment situation in their own backyard.

"I say to them: stop moaning about the powers you don’t have and start acting on the ones you have!”