Ministers celebrated record levels of school leavers going on to “positive destinations” amid claims the figures are misleading.
The percentage of teenagers who were in education, work or training three months after finishing classes rose to 93.7% in Scotland in 2016/17, according to official figures.
There were falls in the proportion doing so in Angus (94.7%) and Perth & Kinross (94.5%) of 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.
It remained at 92.7% in Fife and increased by 2.7% in Dundee to 94.2%.
Further and higher education minister, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: “The figures show a record proportion of leavers in an initial positive destination and, in particular, a welcome increase to another record in those leavers from the most deprived backgrounds going on to a positive destination.”
Iain Gray, the education spokesman, said it is wrong that zero-hour contract working is included in the definition of a positive destination.
“The SNP should remove zero-hours jobs from these stats in the future, even if it makes it more difficult for them to spin the numbers,” he said.
SNP celebrate record ‘positive destination’ figures for school leavers amid claims data is misleading
