The jobless total in Scotland fell by 6000 people between January and March, official figures reveal.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show 118,000 people are out of work compared to 124,000 in October to December last year.

This puts the unemployment rate at 4.3% - a 0.2% improvement on the previous quarter but fractionally above the UK-wide average.

Unemployment across the whole UK fell by 46,000 to 1.42 million, giving a jobless rate of 4.2%, the lowest since 1975.

England's jobless rate is also 4.2%, while Wales' figure of 4.4% is marginally worse than Scotland's.

The best-performing nation in the UK is Northern Ireland, where a 0.8% fall on the previous quarter puts unemployment at 3.1%.

Around 2000 fewer Scots are categorised as in work in the ONS figures, putting the number of people employed in Scotland this quarter at 2.63 million.

The overall employment rate in Scotland is 74.7%, almost a full point lower than the UK rate, which recorded its highest percentage of people in work since records began.

Employment in the UK increased by 197,000 in the quarter to March to 32.3 million, the highest number since the metric was first being recorded in 1971, giving the record rate of 75.6%.

Scottish employability Minister Jamie Hepburn said: "The rise in the employment rate is welcome news and shows that despite the challenging economic conditions facing us as a result of Brexit, our economy and jobs market remains strong.

"Our employment rate has increased over the year to 74.7%, with 2,630,000 people now in employment, the unemployment rate has decreased over the quarter and the year to 4.3% and Scotland's female employment rate has also increased to 71.1%.

"Once more, we continue to outperform the UK on employment and unemployment rates for young people, with 55.6% of young people in employment in Scotland compared to 54.1% of young people in the UK."