North East jobless will face struggle
Oct 18 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
THOUSANDS of public sector workers set to lose their livelihoods through Government cuts will struggle to find a new job, unions have warned.
Research by Unison has revealed there are already 16 job seekers for every job advertised in the North East.
Latest Government figures show there are still 116,000 unemployed in the region, some 9%.
Chancellor George Osborne will announced the deepest cuts in decades when he addresses the House of Commons this Wednesday.
The knock-on effect is likely to see job losses go at councils and other public sector organisations.
Unison officers have urged Mr Osborne not to hit the North East, which, they say, simply does not have the private sector vacancies needed to provide hope for the thousands expected to be made redundant.
They predict that nationally up to 725,000 jobs may be at risk, costing the taxpayer a massive £15bn in unemployment benefits.
The coalition Government has repeatedly said that businesses will create jobs to stave off mass unemployment.
But accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers stated last week that spending cuts would cost up to half a million jobs in the private sector. Gill Hale, head of the Northern region for Unison, said: “Even now, before the major public spending cuts have hit home, there are more people unemployed in the Northern region than jobs to go around.
“Drastic reductions in spending, set to be outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review, will lay the groundwork for adding upwards of a million more public and private sector workers to the job loss totals.
“Heavy job losses in the private and public sector will only lock the Northern region into a downwards spiral until the much-feared double dip recession takes hold.
“It will also cost the taxpayer billions in increased benefits and lost tax, and be deeply regressive – study after study proves the coalition’s cuts will hit the poorest in our society hardest.
“All the evidence blows out of the water the coalition’s claims that private sector growth will replace public sector losses. By only having a strategy for cuts, not growth, the coalition has no strategy for recovery. Last night North East Conservative pier Lord Michael Bates insisted that cuts were necessary for economic recovery.
He said: “What we are trying to do is protect front line services and protect the lowest paid public sector workers.
“The cuts are going to hurt but I think the blame for that needs to go to the people who got us into this mess rather than the people who are getting us out of it.
“The impact on the region of doing nothing would be catastrophic.”
