Scotland saw a marginal decline in private sector employment in August, according to the latest data from the Bank of Scotland.

The data reveals August saw a marginal decline in Scottish private sector employment, falling from 50.3 in July to 49.4 in August, ending a six-month period of job creation, underpinned by job cuts made in the service sector. However, goods producers recruited additional staff at a solid pace.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted Bank of Scotland PMI posted a reading of 52.7 in August, down from 53.5 in July, signalling an eighth consecutive monthly expansion of Scottish private sector output.

Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, says: “With an eighth consecutive month of growth, this is an encouraging PMI. Growth remained solid bringing the PMI Output Index second only to London within the UK. This is a welcome result, suggesting the private sector of the Scottish economy grew, albeit slowly, throughout January to August this year.

“Manufacturing output accelerated at the sharpest rate for four months, while new orders received by manufacturing firms increased for the eighth consecutive month. There was a particularly welcome rise in new export orders, which extended the current sequence of growth to 10 months.

“Although the services sector saw growth, it was the weakest monthly rise in activity since January. The rate of expansion in services has slowed over the summer, with employment falling for the third month in a row. Nevertheless, the Scottish economy is displaying resilience in the face of a global slowdown so far.”