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Almost 270,000 jobs – over 1 in 10 - in Scotland are linked to trade with the UK. 

New expert analysis, published today (13 August 2014) by the Treasury, shows that almost 270,000 jobs – over 1 in 10 - in Scotland are linked to trade with the UK.

This latest Treasury analysis is based upon independent leading academicresearch from Professor Brian Ashcroft of Strathclyde Business School.

Of the jobs directly benefitting from the UK’s single integrated market, more than 100,000 are done by women and over 1 in 3 by under 35s. Most of these jobs, 180,000, are in the services sector, including 40,000 in financial services.

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Currently total Scottish exports are worth £72 billion a year, more than half of Scotland’s economy. Scotland exports £51 billion worth of good to the rest of the UK, this is more than double Scotland’s exports to the rest of the world.

Scotland is also contributing to the UK’s growing exports to emerging markets in South America and Asia.

The economic evidence shows that a borderless UK is a key part of Scotland’s economic success. The analysis demonstrates how important the UK’s fully integrated single market is for the security of jobs and livelihoods in Scotland.

International evidence shows that a border significantly reduces trade between countries, eroding mutual prosperity and undermining jobs on both sides. Borders create differences in regulatory and administrative regimes. They weaken business networks. They create barriers to trade and obstacles to the movement of people and other resources. Together, these impacts are called the border effect. The most well known example of this effect is trade between the US and Canada, where studies on this topic conclude that the border suppresses trade by 44 per cent.