The latest UK Economic Outlook from Price Waterhouse Coopers (www.pwc.co.uk) says that Scotland’s economic growth rate is likely to decline from 1.8% in 2016 to 0.9% in 2017, while the economic growth rate of the UK as a whole is forecast to fall from 2.1% to 1.2%, but both Scotland and the UK are expected to avoid recession.

PWC’s Paul Brewer said that official job figures for June to the end of August “show that the economic inactivity rate for working-age adults fell UK-wide compared to the previous year.

For Scotland, however, the economic inactivity rate for 16- to 64-year-olds rose from 21.3% in June-August 2015 to 22.3% in June-August 2016.

“When you break down the Scottish figures, you see that the economic inactivity rate for men has only increased very slightly over this period, from 17.9% to 18.0%, but the female rate has risen much more markedly, from 24.5% to 26.5%.

“Our recent work suggests that the health of the working-age population is one factor, but there is a challenge here to identify why this is happening and what — if anything — can be done to address it.”

A Scottish Executive government spokesman said: “We have acted swiftly to support our economy, announcing a £500 million package of financial support for private-sector business investment, as well as £100 million of accelerated capital spending in this financial year to ease the uncertainty that businesses face due to the EU referendum vote.

“We are also in a position where the fundamentals of our economy remain strong, with GDP continuing to grow over the past year and 54,000 more people in employment compared to the pre-recession high.”