Region must focus on improving employment rates

Traditionally, the North-East may have had its employment stronghold in the manufacturing and mining industries but by 2012, following decades of decline, it will account for only a small proportion of our workforce.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) released data yesterday that showed the region has some of the lowest levels of employment in the UK, with nearly one in five of the working population claiming unemployment benefits.

Between 1982 and 2002 the North-East lost 100,000 jobs in manufacturing, nearly forty per cent of the sector and by 2012, a further 25,000 jobs will go.

The outlook on mining was also bleak with 39,000 jobs lost over two decades, accounting for 90 per cent of sector.

While the more traditional jobs in the region have declined it is contrasted by a growth of 59,000 posts in business and other services and a growth of 78,000 jobs in health, education and administration.

The introduction on super-shopping centres such as the Metro Centre in Gateshead and Dalton Park, Murton, County Durham, has failed to show an increase in the number of people employed in retail, and along with banking and insurance jobs, has remained at a stable level.

The study also revealed the largest number of people who are unemployed in the region suffer a health problem or disability with former coal-mining communities having very high proportion of people claiming benefits for sickness, particularly in Easington, County Durham.

Research found that 22.5% of people in the district were claiming benefits relating to sickness and incapacity benefit, compared with just 2.6% in Wokingham, Berkshire.

Nationally, levels of employment have improved in recent years, but author of the report, John Adams, research director at IPPR, concluded the UK was far from being at full employment and it should be regarded as first and foremost a political and social ambition.

Read the full story in The Northern Echo on Friday.