The jobless total was down 5,000 at the end of last year

In the last three months of 2005, the number of people out of work fell by 5,000 to 135,000 - a rate of 5.2%.

Over the same period, unemployment rose in Wales, Northern Ireland and all but one English region.

On the separate claimant measure, the number of people out of work and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in Scotland was down by 1,200 last month.

Labour market

At 83,900, this figure was down by 2,400 compared to January 2005 and its lowest recorded level since June 1975.

The internationally comparable International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure for October to December 2005 showed employment in Scotland increasing to 2.468 million.

It said there were 10,000 more people in work compared to the previous three months and 14,000 more compared to the same period in 2004.

The employment rate amongst those of working age increased to 75.4%, up 0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter and 0.3 percentage points over the year.

"These figures show that the Scottish labour market is at its strongest position in decades," Scottish Secretary Alistair Darling said.

'Job opportunities'

"Not only are we continuing to see more people in work than ever before, but unemployment is falling across both measures and remains historically low."

Across the UK, the number of people out of work increased by 108,000 in the last quarter of 2005 to 1.54 million, the highest total for four years. The jobless rate rose by 0.3% to 5.1%, the highest for three years.

The number of people in work fell by 57,000 in the three months to December to 28.7 million, an employment rate of 74.5% - the lowest for almost four years.