Oil and Gas UK has undermined its own suggestion 120,000 jobs will be lost in the offshore sector by the end of this year.
Economics and Intelligence Manager Adam Davey told a meeting at the SNP conference the gloomy estimate “doesn’t mean” people are “no longer in employment”.
The trade body suggested in June that 120,000 workers would have lost their jobs in the oil and gas industry – nearly double their previous estimate.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the north-east has also sky-rocketed over the last year as the oil price downturn continues to hit the local economy.
But Mr Davey cast doubt on the scale of job losses at an SNP conference fringe.
He said: “There’s the figure of 120,000 jobs that are no longer supported by the industry.
“One thing I would like to get across is that doesn’t mean those 120,000 people are no longer in employment.
“It means some of them are even doing the same job that they were doing previously, but that job is no longer focusing on the oil and gas sector. It may focus on a different sector.
“Yes, people have lost their jobs – and there has been a big, big human cost associated with this downturn – but it doesn’t mean 120,000 people are now unemployed.
“You can see that from statistics in Aberdeen and Scotland as a whole.”
Mr Davey also said UK Oil and Gas was optimistic about possible improvements in the outlook for the North Sea over 2017.
He said: “I am not saying things are going to get radically better (next year), but they could stop getting worse.
“It all depends on how much more efficient we can become, as an industry.”
Recent year—on-year jobs figures have shown a sharp rise in the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
In September, unemployment was up 21% in the Granite City and 49% in Aberdeenshire compared to the same month in 2015.
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