"These positive output figures show that Scotland's economy continues to go from strength to strength with growth of 1% over the quarter and 2.6% over the year — the fastest annual growth in over three years"
- John Swinney, Finance Secretary
According to the latest figures, Scotland is set to reclaim its pre-recession peak ahead of the rest U.K., adding to signs the country has economic potential to be an independent country. The recent data, which came out two months before the referendum on Scottish independence, revealed that the country's economy grew 1% in the first quarter of 2014, exceeding its 2008 peak by 0.4%. The UK, whose economy expanded 0.8% in the same period, is not projected to surpass its 2008 peak until second-quarter estimates are released by the Office for National Statistics next week. Moreover, employment in Scotland rose by 76,000 over the year to reach a record 2,587,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to Britain's Office for National Statistics. Employment in Scotland has now risen over the quarter for 17 monthly releases in a row, the longest ever unbroken streak of increasing quarterly employment. Scotland's employment rate now stands at 73.3%, compared to Britain's 73.1% as a whole. Overall, the jobless rate has fallen by 0.6 percentage points over the year and by 1 percentage points over the last two years, showed the latest statistics.
However, a scrutiny of the figures indicated Scotland's growth over the year to the first quarter is less impressive than the wider U.K., growing at a rate of 2.6% compared to 3% for the country overall.
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