The findings of a report into labour market trends in Scotland's rural economy were announced at a conference in Inverness today (Tuesday, November 25).

Delegates from the public and private sector throughout rural Scotland and the Central Belt attended the one-day Futureskills Scotland conference at the Lochardil House Hotel, where Deputy Lifelong Learning Minister Lewis Macdonald gave the keynote address.

The event saw the publication of a new report on labour market issues in rural Scotland, analysing trends including the demand and supply for labour and employment projections for the next three years.

The key findings of the report included:

• In rural Scotland, the largest occupational group was skilled trades (16 per cent of all employed), higher than the rest of Scotland (11 per cent)
• Rural Scotland has a higher rate of self-employment (14 per cent) compared with the rest of Scotland (8 per cent)
• The overall population of rural Scotland has grown strongly over the last two decades, but is projected to decline by 3 per cent by 2016
• Total employment in rural Scotland is expected to remain broadly stable over the next three to four years
• Unemployment rates are lower in rural Scotland than in the rest of the country
• Skills shortages only affected around one in 30 rural workplaces - equivalent to around 3.5 per cent of rural employees
• A higher proportion of school leavers in rural Scotland go on to tertiary education (56 per cent compared with 51 per cent in the rest of Scotland).

In his keynote address, Mr Macdonald announced that the Scottish Executive's new Lifelong Learning Forum would meet for the first time on December 16th.

The minister said: "Improving knowledge and skills brings direct benefits to the individual and collective economic benefits to society at large.  Of course rural areas are already aware of this with more people studying from home than across the rest of Scotland.

"We know however that work needs to be done to attract people to live in rural Scotland - the fact that unemployment is lower and wages have been rising in these areas should help in these efforts."

Among other key issues discussed at the conference were the implications for the Highlands and Islands labour market of the decommissioning of Dounreay nuclear plant and the challenges for the area identified from the 2001 Census.

Also discussed were the interim findings of the first phase of research into tight labour markets in the Highlands and Islands and the results of the recently published Scottish Employers Skills survey; as well as rural labour market issues in lowland Scotland

Alex Paterson, director of the developing skills group at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) welcomed the focus on issues particularly affecting the HIE area and other parts of rural Scotland.

He said: "HIE's aim is to enable people living in the Highlands and Islands to realise their full potential.  The acquisition of new skills, knowledge and capabilities is at the heart of this vision for the region.   This in turn fosters wealth creation from our businesses, while empowerment of individuals provides the building blocks of strong and confident communities.

"We are delighted that this year, not only has Futureskills Scotland been focussing on Scotland-wide issues, but also progressing a number of projects, including commissioning specific strategic labour market research, that are of particular interest to the HIE area and wider rural Scotland.  As a result of this quality labour market information we are now increasingly able to focus our efforts on areas of identified need."