Case for the North East campaign tackles economy

Jan 29 2010 by Andrew Hebden, The Journal

IT was one of the iconic images of the Great Depression: the giant banner bearing the words Jarrow Crusade held aloft above the flat caps of 200 men as they marched defiantly to London from their home town.

Jarrow, a typical shipbuilding town that became synonymous with the worst economic downturn of the 20th Century, suffered more than most during the 1930s. The closure of the Palmer’s shipyard in 1935 was the final blow for many – compounding the existing problems of appalling poverty and high mortality rates. Unemployment there reached around 80% of the population.

Devastated by the collapse in international trade, the North East’s two biggest industries – shipbuilding and coal mining – suffered severely as the Great Depression bit hard. It meant the region was more scarred than any other part of the country by the greatest of all economic crises.

Eighty years on, and the North East is emerging from a recession widely regarded as the worst since the Thirties. It has hit hard – no doubt – and the announcement yesterday of up to 900 job losses at the Shop Direct call centre in Sunderland is a timely reminder of the difficulties faced by many families. Hundreds of others have found themselves either out of work or with their hours and pay packets cut as firms struggle to stay afloat.

And yet the region’s economy is by no means on its knees. Unemployment has risen but it has not hit the levels feared at the start of the downturn. Major job losses at the likes of Northern Rock have been balanced by brighter news from major players such as Tesco Bank which is bringing 1,000 jobs to North Tyneside. Even yesterday, Nissan lightened the gloom in Sunderland with news of 400 extra jobs.

Business leaders, meanwhile, speak not of an economy struggling to find a way forward, but rather with a quiet confidence about new opportunities on the horizon.

Today, rather than being heavily dependent on one or two huge industries for tens of thousands of jobs, our economy is rich in diversity. There is the financial sector, creative industries, chemicals, energy, the automotive sector, call centres, pharmaceuticals and leisure and tourism all providing a significant contribution to the mix.

Then there are the growth industries of tomorrow. At the height of the Great Depression, a new industry was dawning on Teesside which was to form the backbone of the economy in the south of the region for decades to come. Today, hopes that renewable energy and low-carbon vehicles could eventually prove as significant to the region as chemicals have been to Teesside are gaining credence.