January 22, 2004
Scottish business signs all positive.
The
Scotsman reports that all of the economic indicators are up and that it looks to be a very good year for Scottish business.
Scottish business entered the new year on a roll and the trend looks set to continue, with optimism and orders improving, Scottish Chambers of Commerce said yesterday.
SCC director Bob Leitch made the upbeat prognosis as he unveiled the latest quarterly study of the Scottish economy. It showed a sharp upturn in orders and optimism in manufacturing, where a deep recession has dragged down the economy since 2001.
The report showed that tourism, retail, wholesale and construction had also performed well.
Leitch acknowledged that the financial services sector is enduring a difficult start to 2004. But he added:
"We’ve seen some major company announcements in the past few months [such as Abbey’s shift of jobs to Glasgow] that five to ten years ago would have caused a crisis. Nowadays, Scottish business has learned to live with these changes as a way of life.
"People are prepared to upskill, train, adapt and move on. It’s an amazing achievement in such a short space of time."
Of the survey generally, Leitch said: "It’s good news across the board. All too often in the past couple of years, this report has been disappointing. Now we’re very upbeat, and I think with good reason."
"Upskill." I'm familiar with the concept, but it's a new word to me. Sure is nice to hear such a positive economic note. Curious though they don't even mention the contributions of the arts, even though J.K. Rowling is the highest earner there. And the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the world's largest, brings in quite a bit of money. They call it tourism, but a large part of it is really the arts. But the economists just can't see this. Strange.
