PEOPLE in Dunfermline are better paid and more likely to be in work than in any other area of Fife, a new report has shown.

Councillors were given an annual overview of the local economy and labour market which painted a "particularly positive picture", amid a very challenging time for local residents and the "stubbornly high" number of empty units in the city centre.

Weekly wages, averaging £622, are the highest in the Kingdom and the employment rate of 80.4 per cent was also better than the rest of Fife and Scotland as a whole (74.4 per cent).

Peter Corbett, from Fife Council's business and employability service, said: "This report paints a particularly positive picture for Dunfermline, probably the most positive out of the seven area committee areas in Fife.

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"Although this is a retrospective report, we've also highlighted one or two exciting opportunities coming up which gives us the chance to further improve on these figures."

He continued: "In terms of advantages, city status will certainly be an opportunity to build upon and we have a fantastic connection to Pittencrieff Park, which is on the doorstep and has the High Street leading down to it."

There are big plans to improve the Glen, which would further help the fast improving tourism figures, and he cited the investment in the museum and art gallery, the re-opening of Abbot House and the "return of cruise traffic" as major plusses for Dunfermline's visitor numbers.

Cllr Aude Boubaker-Calder said: "There's a lot of economic indicators that are really positive for Dunfermline and I'm happy to see that, in a certain sense, it is thriving.

"Although when you walk down High Street you see a stubbornly high amount of vacant floor space in Dunfermline.

"The former Debenhams in the Kingsgate is absolutely empty and dead, the area around the end of High Street, although there are a few local businesses there, it's still quite empty so I'm wondering as a city how we can reduce this?

"I know high streets across the UK and the world are not the same as they were 10-20 years ago so I'm wondering how we offer to the people the best retail experience but also the best High Street, let's be optimistic, one of the best maybe in Scotland?"

Mr Corbett said: "That's a difficult challenge facing virtually every town and city across Scotland and the UK. It's not an easy one to answer.

"Although there are some very large units that remain vacant, Dunfermline is faring slightly better than most.

"We've seen local artisan high streets faring particularly well, we're seeing far reduced vacancies in the likes of Burntisland and Inverkeithing, so I think we have to build on that success.

"It's about rejuvenating and repurposing our high streets."

The report said there are fewer people claiming out-of-work benefits than before the pandemic and the percentage of working aged people, aged 16 to 64, who are not in work nor actively seeking work, was 16.3 per cent, the lowest in the Kingdom and significantly below the Scottish average of 22.9 per cent.

The percentage of 16-19 year-olds in education, training or employment is the highest in Fife and the number of jobs here shot up by 6.9 per cent, from 29,000 to 31,000, between September 2019 and September 2021.

The city leads the way in financial and insurance jobs with 88 per cent of those posts in Fife concentrated here, it has 64 per cent of all information and communication jobs while Business Gateway Fife supported 102 new business start-ups in this area in 2021-22.

Mr Corbett said teenage tycoons had played a part and explained: "We see a very high participation in the culture of enterprise programme across Dunfermline schools and that obviously inspires entrepreneurs who then go on to start up their own businesses."