UNEMPLOYMENT in Warrington has leapt by 4.4 per cent in one month – with 4,509 people now claiming Job Seekers Allowance in the borough
The figures, released by the Department of Work and Pensions, have shocked Cllr Hitesh Patel, the borough council’s executive members for personnel and communications.
They compare July – the latest available figures – with the previous month.
Cllr Patel (pictured) said: “These figures are a warning to the Tory-LibDem coalition that they need to think again about what impact their policies are having on the economy.
“What is really worrying is that the unemployment rate among Warrington’s 18-24 year-old population has grown to a massive 7.9 per cent.
“For our part, the Labour run Council is undertaking a fundamental review on how we award contracts to private companies.
“We will always need to ensure we get best value for local tax payers but we are committed to making our procurement processes more transparent so that local companies can see what contracts are coming up for tender and can bid for them. The more support we can give to local businesses the more chance they can grow and employ local people.
“It’s all right for Mr Cameron – his leafy constituency has an unemployment rate of just 1.4 per cent.
“I am urging the Government to reverse their decision to scrap the Future Jobs Fund. It was a great way for unemployed 16-24 year olds to get six months valuable paid work experience.”
Warrington’s unemployment level is 3.5 per cent compared with a North West average of 4.3 per cent.
Shock rise in jobless total
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
9 Comments
Oh diddums the poor lad is shocked and then ruins his tirade at the government with the much used left wing derogatory comparitive “leafy constituency”.
I live in a leafy constituency in Warrington so what the hell it has got to do with Job Seeker claimants only the executive member for communication would know. Massive fail.
Such a right wing tirade with not a suggestion about how this trend can be reversed! We need action not rhetoric from all sides both Locally and Nationally to deal with this worrying problem.
mmmm….. according to the DWP statistics, David Cameron’s constituency has currently has 260 people aged 16-24 who are unemployed and claiming JSA. Warrington has 1,170 people aged 16-24 who are unemployed and claiming JSA. I think the point the councillor is trying to raise is that David Cameron may not regard tackling Youth unemployment as a priority. The Future Jobs Fund may not have made a big difference to David Cameron’s area but in Warrington it is needed which I think is a perfectly valid point.
Something needs to be done it’s getting ridiculous especially for the youngsters. Golden Gates Housing Trust had 6 apprenticeships available recently (something like 2 electricians, 2 plumbers, 1 plasterer and 1 bricklayer) and a whopping 1600 people applied. The fact that people are now working beyond what was normal retirement age is also causing a huge knock on effect resulting in far less jobs becoming available for those lower down the age bracket.
You can’t apply for job seekers allowance if you are under the age of 18 except in special cases ie you are living alone, have kids etc. So in reality there are probably a lot more 16 and 17 year olds out of work than the DWP statistics actually suggest.
I agree, but this is all they do never give a solution to the problem
urmmm…. isn’t his proposed solution to reinstate the “Future Jobs Fund”? Maybe we should be investing in adult literacy classes so that people can learn to read 🙂
Isn’t the idea of re-instating the “Future Jobs Fund” scheme a potential solution…
It is interesting to note that there has been a massive influx of East Europeans over the last few years, all doing jobs that could have been done by many of our young people. Makes you think that UK employers don’t think that the UK’s youngsters are worth employing, maybe that’s right, but from my experience there are many good youngsters out there who do deserve a chance. Dizzy makes a good point about people working beyond what was the normal retirement age, guess that they would argue that they need the money to maintain their lifestyle, and so long as they can stay earning a wage they will.