New labour market data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released on Tuesday shows Scotland’s unemployment rate is now 4.1% and the employment rate is now 74.3%.

The UK unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.9% and the UK employment rate fell slightly to 75.9%

“This means that there has been an increase in (Scottish) unemployment of 0.8%-points in the three months to August, and that the (Scottish) employment rate fell by 1.4%-points over the same period,” said the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI).

“To put this into context, the increase in the unemployment rate is the biggest three month increase in four years.

“This means that there are 20,000 more people unemployed in Scotland, and nearly 60,000 fewer people in employment, than earlier in the year.”

The FAI added: “The unemployment rate remains, by historic standards, relatively low and the employment rate remains relatively high, but what was surprising in today’s data … was the sharpness of the decline in the employment rate in the latest data …

“While it’s important not to get too carried away with one set of numbers, the fact that unemployment has been rising in Scotland, and employment falling, over the past year while the reverse has been happening in the UK as a whole, is something we need to keep an eye on.”