The Minister for Employment and Investment, commonly referred to as the Employment Minister was a

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...

ial post in the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. As a result, the Minister did not attend the

Scottish Cabinet The Scottish Cabinet is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government, the devolved government of Scotland. It is headed by the first minister, and made up of the deputy first minister, cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government ...

. The minister reported to the

Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic is a position in the Scottish cabinet since May 2024. The current Cabinet Secretary is Kate Forbes, who has served since May 2024 alongside her role as Deputy First Minister. The Cabinet Secretary is ...

. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. In June 2025, the post was abolished by First Minister

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

and its responsibilities split between other ministers covering the economy brief.

Responsibilities

As well as supporting the

, specific responsibilities of the Minister for Employment and Investment were:

Fair work

*effective worker voice, including trade unions *employability programmes *four day working week *Living Wage and Living Hours *Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) *workplace employment and equalities incl. gender, disability and race employment, addressing the pay gap

Investment and regeneration

*cities investment and strategy *City Centre Recovery Taskforce *regeneration policy and the place based investment programme *retail policy, recovery and strategy *town centre regeneration including business improvement districts *community wealth building *social enterprise *employee-owned businesses

History

The post of Minister for Youth and Women's Employment within the

was recreated on 21 November 2014, but had existed in the very recent past (until April 2014) under a different title. The post of Minister for Employability and Training was abolished as part of the cabinet reshuffle in June 2018. The post was reinstated for the

Swinney government John Swinney formed the Swinney government on 8 May 2024, following his appointment as First Minister of Scotland at the Court of Session. The government was approved by parliamentary vote thanks to the abstention of Green Party of Scotland, Scotti ...

in 2024 under Minister for Employment and Investment to assist the newly appointed Deputy First Minister,

Kate Forbes Kate Elizabeth Forbes (born 6 April 1990) is a Scottish politician who has served as deputy first minister of Scotland, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic since May 2024. A member of the Scottish Natio ...

. The Junior Ministerial post of Minister for Youth Employment was created on 7 December 2011 following the recommendations of the Smith Group. From April 2014, this was promoted to a Cabinet Secretary position, as Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment. The November 2014 Cabinet reshuffle saw the Cabinet Secretary position changed to Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training. In May 2016,

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...

retitled the post to Minister for Employability and Training. In 2021, the office was revived by Sturgeon and

Richard Lochhead Richard Neilson Lochhead (born 24 May 1969) is a Scottish politician serving as the Minister for Business and Employment since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he served as the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and ...

was appointed Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work.

Humza Yousaf Humza Haroon Yousaf (; born 7 April 1985) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from March 2023 to May 2024. He served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish ...

removed the role during his period as First Minister, but

brought it back in May 2024 with Tom Arthur appointed as Minister for Employment and Investment. In June 2025, the post was abolished by Swinney. The employment portfolio was given to Lochhead as Minister for Business, now Minister for Business and Employment, and the investment responsibilities absorbed by

in her role as

List of office holders

References

External links

Minister for Employability and Training
on gov.scot {{Junior Scottish Government Ministers Career development in the United Kingdom Ministerial posts of the Scottish Government