UNEMPLOYMENT – UNISON & STUC RESPONSES

Commenting on the unemployment figures, which show that long-term unemployment has reached a 17-year high, Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“Every job lost is a personal tragedy and the government has to do more to tackle the persistent jobs crisis.

"Stopping the slew of job losses from the public sector and giving Britain a pay rise to get people spending is what our economy needs to recover.”

ENDS
 

Regional unemployment between March and May

North East                             134,000   plus 4,000        10.4%

North West                            270,000   minus 18,000    7.8%

Yorkshire and The Humber  249,000   minus 4,000      9.0%

East Midlands                       176,000   plus 1,000         7.7%

West Midlands                      268,000   plus 15,000       9.8%

East of England                    205,000   minus 12,000    6.6%

London                                  368,000   minus 16,000    8.6%

South East                            286,000   minus 20,000    6.3%

South West                           156,000   minus 11,000    5.8%

Wales                                    122,000   plus 1,000         8.2%

Scotland                                205,000   plus 8,000         7.5%

Northern Ireland                      68,000   minus 4,000      7.8%

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The STUC commented today on the GDP and labour market statistics

Grahame Smith, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) General Secretary said:

“Today’s news, although mixed, supports the STUC’s view that caution must be exercised when assessing Scotland’s immediate economic prospects.

“Unemployment is now back at the level of autumn last year. It is clear that any nascent recovery is having very limited impact in tackling the stock of unemployment created through the recession. It must be stressed that very long-term unemployment nearly doubled over the year to June.

“Women accounted for nearly all the increase in unemployment over the three months to May with the unemployment rate for women now above the level of two years ago.

“It is more encouraging that Scotland has recorded another quarter of decent GDP growth. However, this growth is even more unbalanced than for the UK as a whole with Business Services and Finance growing five times faster than manufacturing. While another significant fall in construction output is hardly surprising, it does not augur well for the sustainability of Scotland’s recovery”.