Scotland continues to have a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the UK after new figures showed the jobless total increased by 20,000 in three months.
Across the UK as a whole, unemployment rose by 21,000 between December 2015 and February 2016 to 1.7 million.
In Scotland the number who are out of work, including those who are not eligible for benefits, rose by just slightly less than that to stand at 171,000 for the quarter.
At the same time, the employment total north of the border fell by 21,000 to stand at 2,610,000.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, were released just two months after the number of Scots in work had reached a record high.
The fall in the number of people in work meant Scotland’s employment rate slipped by one point over the three-month period to 73.9%, putting it below the rate of 74.1% recorded across the UK as a whole.
Scotland’s unemployment rate was also worse than the UK figure, standing at 6.2% north of the border compared to 5.1%
However, the number of Scots who are out of working and claiming jobseeker’s allowance fell by 600 from February’s total to 57,500 in March – with this 21,100 lower than the same month in 2015.
