It’s nowhere near that high.
Government employment in Scotland is a bit under 25% (remember, their NHS means that most medical professionals are considered government employees) and they have about 11% of working age people on the dole.
If you look at the Scottish economy, they’re operating at a trade deficit without the North Sea oil, and they’d be just about break-even with the North Sea Oil included in their economic stats. That’s better than the US is doing...
Beg to differ:
From Macleans Ca 3/18/2010 by Mark Steyn:
“In Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, government spending accounts for between 73 and 78 per cent of the economy, which is about as high as you can get without embracing full-scale Sovietization. In the English city of Newcastle, three-quarters of the working population are employed by the government.”