Nearly one in four Dundee households are without a breadwinner, new figures have revealed.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 13,000 homes in Dundee classed as workless last year where there were no occupants aged 16-64 in employment.
This works out as 24% of all homes with residents of working age and an increase of 1,000 on the number of jobless households from the year before. In Angus there are 6,000 workless households, 18.6% of the total.
Clackmannanshire has 5,000 workless households. Because of its small population this means 28.9% of homes nearly one in three are officially classed as workless.
In Fife 26,000 homes are classed as workless, 1,000 more than last year and 21% of the total. Perth and Kinross has the lowest rate of workless households in Tayside, Fife and the Forth Valley.
Just 8,000 homes are classed as jobless, 17.1% of the total. Across Scotland there are 371,000 workless households more than one in five (21%) of homes where at least one adult of working age resides.
The UK average for workless households was 18.1% for 2012 around 3.5 million households in total. Glasgow had the highest percentage of workless households at 30.2%. Liverpool was second at 28.7%.
Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison said: “It is disappointing that the number of workless households remains at the level it has been over the last few years, although it is less that it has been in the mid-2000s.”
Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said: “The Scottish Government and Dundee City Council have brought forward infrastructure projects at the Waterfront totalling £1 billion and secured funding of £45 million for the V&A, funding for the new Olympia, which is now open, funding for seven new schools and a record number of apprenticeship places in Dundee.”
Scottish finance secretary John Swinney said: “The Scottish Government has a relentless focus on boosting employment and recovery in the economy.”
However Labour list MSP Jenny Marra said: “The Scottish Government is not doing enough to bring jobs to our city. We have an able workforce who want to work and they are simply not getting the opportunities to do so.
“The SNP in Dundee and Holyrood have promised jobs for our city for six years now and Dundonians are still waiting.”