Andy Willox, Scottish Policy convenorfor the Federation of small businesses, pictured at Goldstar, South Esplanade West, Torry, Aberdeen.
Picture by JIM IRVINE 29-10-2008 .
North-east businessman Andy Willox has urged the Scottish Government to use the public sector’s “enormous spending power” to boost the economy.
Mr Willox is Scottish policy convenor for the Federation of Small Businesses.
His Aberdeen-based company Goldstar provides services ranging from household and office cleaning to waste management and fire and flood damage restoration.
He was speaking after official figures showed Scottish unemployment rose between November and January, with the 4.3% jobless rate now matching that of the UK as a whole.
A total of 118,299 Scots aged 16 and over were out of work during the quarter, up by almost 5,000 on the previous three months.
Meanwhile, the number of people employed in Scotland fell slightly from the previous quarter to 2,644,479.
Mr Willox said: “These worrying figures show that Scotland’s headline jobs metrics are both moving in the wrong direction.
“Getting local economies growing to reverse this trend must be the country’s decision-makers’ top priority.
“The Scottish Government could do worse than using our public sector’s enormous spending power to kick start local economies.”
