The swathe of council job losses across England and Wales is set to worsen the North-South divide as Northern councils are disproportionately hit by government cuts, the Green Party said today.
Figures show that the North West and North East are to suffer twice as much as Southern regions, with the North seeing 6.3 in every 1000 existing jobs lost whilst in the South it is 3.1. The West Midlands is also disproportionately badly affected with 5.7 per 1000 jobs set to be lost.
With the number of planned job losses climbing above 150,000 for the first time, the Green Party's deputy leader Adrian Ramsay said:
"These figures demonstrate the socially destructive potential of the cuts. It is absolutely unacceptable that the areas with the greatest need for investment are being most affected by the cuts programme.
"This clearly highlights the need to work towards a more diverse, secure and sustainable economy in the North whilst tackling over-development pressures on services and the environment in London and the South."
Adrian Ramsay stressed the importance of investing in an already fragile economy, concluding:
"Instead of these harmful cuts, which are worsening national divides and increasing inequalities, the government should introduce a system of progressive taxation and job creation."
The Greens also pointed out that while the North-South economic divide continues to be a matter of concern, it should not be allowed to hide the fact that there are areas of deprivation and relatively high unemployment within the relatively affluent regions.
Local authority job losses by region
Green Party press office briefing
18 February 2010
Caitlin Harley and Larissa Hansford
Contact Green Party press office, 020 7549 0315, press@greenparty.org.uk
1. As of January 24th, the number of council jobs thought to be under threat in the UK was 140,456 - up from 125,000 the previous week and 100,000 at the beginning of the month.
2. There are many more job losses to come - this figure is taken from HR1 forms issued by 203 councils and authorities, with another 294 yet to report.
3. The biggest planned cuts notified over the past few days come from Nottinghamshire county council (2,500 jobs at risk); Fife council (1,800); Worcestershire county council (1,500); Croydon borough council (1,500); Leicester City council (1,000) and Hackney borough council (800).
Broken down by region, council job losses now look like this (1):
|
|
Population | Council job losses (2) | Job losses per 1000 people | Population of working age (3) | Job losses per 1000 people of working age | Existing jobs (4) | Job losses per 1000 existing jobs |
| West Midlands | 5,267,337 | 20,746 | 3.94 | 3,265,749 | 6.35 | 2,942,439 | 7.05 |
| North West | 6,853,200 | 25,945 | 3.79 | 4,248,984 | 6.11 | 3,926,061 | 6.61 |
| North East | 2,515,442 | 9,164 | 3.64 | 1,559,574 | 5.88 | 1,431,688 | 6.40 |
| Yorkshire & The Humber | 5,142,400 | 16,846 | 3.28 | 3,188,288 | 5.28 | 2,882,212 | 5.85 |
| East Midlands | 4,172,179 | 10,304 | 2.47 | 2,586,751 | 3.98 | 2,397,918 | 4.30 |
| South West | 4,928,458 | 10,808 | 2.19 | 3,055,644 | 3.54 | 2,863,138 | 3.78 |
| Scotland | 5,194,000 | 9,641 | 1.86 | 3,220,280 | 2.99 | 2,975,538 | 3.24 |
| London | 7,753,600 | 13,829 | 1.78 | 4,807,232 | 2.88 | 4,369,773 | 3.17 |
| Eastern | 5,388,140 | 9,473 | 1.76 | 3,340,646 | 2.84 | 3,116, 823 | 3.04 |
| South East | 8,000,550 | 12,530 | 1.57 | 4,960,341 | 2.53 | 4,642,879 | 2.70 |
| Wales | 2,999,300 | 1,170 | 0.39 | 1,859,566 | 0.63 | 1,692,205 | 0.69 |
| UK | 62,041,708 | 140,456 | 2.26 | 38,465,859 | 3.65 | 35,503,987 | 3.96 |
(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 0.01.
(2) Figures compiled by the GMB union. Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/jan/24/15000-more-council-jobs-at-risk.
(3) People of working age (aged 16 to 64 for males and 16 to 59 for females) represented 62 per cent of the total mid-2009 population.
(4) Population of working age minus number of unemployed. This will include those who are not working but haven't registered unemployed. More precise figures unavailable.