1. When the whole structure or type of industry changes this can lead to unemployment. In Scotland as traditional industries have declined, insufficient new jobs have been created. What were the traditional industries? 1. Mining 2. Heavy industry such as ship building 3. Iron and steel production

2. At one time in Scotland there were hundred of coal mines, each employing hundreds of workers. The last deep coal mine at Longannet in Fife, closed in March 2002. What happened to the coal mining industry? Many small mines became uneconomical and the industry closed these and concentrated on a few larger mines. It then became cheaper to buy coal from abroad as the coal reserves became harder to extract.

3. Longannet was originally 1 of 3 mines established in the 1960’s to provide fuel for the Longannet power station. Coal reserves beneath Fife became exhausted and there was a need to dig deeper and expand further. In March 2002 there was severe flooding at the mine and this led to its closure. At that time the mine employed 360 miners and 150 contractors.

4. Those workers who lost their jobs in traditional industry have difficulty in finding alternative work. This is because their particular skills are no longer relevant in modern industry so they may require re-training. Many workers have been in the same industry for many years and are older. This can make it harder to re-train etc.

5. Some jobs only exist at certain times of the year. Tourism Farm working e.g. strawberry picking Shop work at Christmas time

6. Every economy goes through good and bad periods. During a decline or recession, people have less money to spend and therefore manufacturers sell less goods. Consequently workers are made redundant. redundant. In the early 1990’s, the UK went through a period of recession and the unemployment figures rose to 3 million unemployed.

7. The current unemployment rate is 2.5million (February 2010). At the moment the country is going through another downturn in the economy therefore unemployment has risen.