Unemployment in Scotland has risen and continues to be above the UK average, new statistics show.

Between September and November 2016, unemployment rose by 11,000 and the total now stands at 139,000.

Across the UK, the rate fell by 52,000 in the same period.

According to the figures from the Office for National Statistics, the UK average unemployment is now 4.8% while Scotland’s is 5.1%, a 0.4% rise over the quarter.

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Secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell said: “Today’s statistics underline the need for the Scottish Government to focus all their efforts on supporting jobs and economic growth because they paint a worrying picture.

“Whereas across the UK the news is better, here in Scotland unemployment is up, employment is down and Scotland’s economy continues to lag behind that of the UK.

“The UK Government has devolved a raft of new powers to Holyrood, agreed a fair financial settlement as a strong foundation, and delivered £800m of extra investment for the Scottish Government to spend.

“The Scottish Government now needs to use all of these powers to secure and strengthen Scotland’s economy.”

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The Scottish Government welcomed some of the statistics, such as Scotland continuing to have lower youth unemployment than the UK average.

When compared with the same period in 2015 the unemployment rate in Scotland fell by 0.4%, again lower than the UK average of a 0.5% decline.

The country also had lower levels of youth inactivity than the average across the UK.

Minister for employability and training Jamie Hepburn said: “It is clear that the Scottish and UK economies, are currently facing challenging economic conditions.

“Nevertheless, despite a slight rise in the unemployment rate over the most recent quarter, it has fallen over the past year.

“It is also heartening to see how strongly we are performing in the youth labour market, where we see the unemployment levels among young Scots steadily declining.

Hepburn added: “Despite the strong performance of the youth labour market, the Brexit vote caused significant economic uncertainty, threatening our economic recovery and the stability of our jobs market.

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“Scottish Government analysis suggests that a hard Brexit could cost the Scottish economy up to £11bn a year by 2030.

“Since the vote, ministers have kept engaged with business and stakeholders to understand the challenges, mitigate their impact and ultimately protect our access to the single market as outlined in the Scottish Government paper, Scotland’s Place in Europe, published in December.”