date: 15 February 2012
embargo: For immediate release
Responding to the latest unemployment figures published today by the Office for National Statistics (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
'These figures are bad, although thankfully not quite the disaster we saw at the end of last year.
'With one in three jobseekers looking for work for over a year, and around six unemployed people for every job vacancy, the government's mantra that there are 'plenty of jobs out there' just doesn't ring true.
'It's encouraging to see a small rise in employment, but this is entirely down to people taking part-time work because there are no full-time jobs available.
'Any job is better than no job at all, even if it's on far lower pay and shorter hours, but people cannot afford to do this indefinitely. We desperately need more full-time jobs paying decent wages.
'Minister must acknowledge our jobs crisis and recognise that real action to boost growth is the only way to tackle it.'
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Top 10 employment blackspots, January 2012
Local authority |
Region |
Claimants |
Vacancies |
Ratio |
Clackmannanshire |
Scotland |
1,893 |
27 |
70.1 |
East Dunbartonshire |
Scotland |
1,903 |
68 |
28.0 |
Lewisham |
London |
10,791 |
393 |
27.5 |
West Dunbartonshire |
Scotland |
3,969 |
148 |
26.8 |
Eilean Siar |
Scotland |
554 |
21 |
26.4 |
Hackney |
London |
11,019 |
455 |
24.2 |
Isle of Wight |
South East |
3,964 |
171 |
23.2 |
East Ayrshire |
Scotland |
4,872 |
212 |
23.0 |
East Renfrewshire |
Scotland |
1,423 |
62 |
23.0 |
North Lanarkshire |
Scotland |
12,517 |
571 |
21.9 |
Source: nomisweb
- The labour market statistics are available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_254579.pdf
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk
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