9,000 Scottish builders face the axe

Around 9,000 builders in Scotland face the axe as the housing downturn moves north of the border.

Economists have predicted 4,500 builders will go by the end of the year, or one fifth of the total workforce.

Mackay Consultants spokesman Tony Mackay said another 2,000 redundancies could be made in the financial services sector, according to the Scotsman.

He said unemployment in Scotland was at 72,400 in May and could soar by a further 12.5%.

He told the newspaper he didn’t think the Scottish economy would go into recession, but there was a 50% chance that Britain might.

He said: “It’s 50-50 that the British economy will fall into recession, but the more we talk about it, the more it’s likely to happen. It starts to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”