20,000 jobs ‘taken out of Yorkshire’

A new report based on official statistics published by Labour this morning argues that falls in the headline jobless numbers mask a dramatic increase in the number of people in part-time and temporary work, with 170,000 working but wanting more hours.

It also says that while the headline unemployment rate for the region stands at 9.2 per cent it is much higher in places such as the Sheffield Central parliamentary constituency where it is 21.3 per cent while in Leeds Central and Scarborough and Whitby 17.3 per cent of people are out of work.

The Government has been boosted by a stream of data suggesting the economy is improving, with an influential thinktank report last week saying the recovery is close to achieving “escape velocity”.

Labour feels it has struck a chord with the public by focusing on the cost of living in recent months and as headline economic figures improve the party wants to persuade voters that most people are not benefiting from the recovery.

Sir Kevin Barron, Labour MP for Rother Valley and the chairman of the group of Yorkshire and Humber Labour MPs, said: “We all want to see growth and higher levels of employment in Yorkshire and the Humber, but it’s got to be sustainable. The current level of temporary and part-time workers here is a real worry and masks what’s really happening in our regional economy.

“We need more than a temporary fix to Yorkshire’s jobs market, with more being done to encourage employers to create permanent opportunities on decent wages.

“Labour’s plans to give employers a tax rebate of up to £1,000 for every employee they uprate to the Living Wage, our pledge to freeze business rates for small businesses and radical devolution of power and money to the regions to build sustainable growth would all dramatically improve this situation and get more people here into well-paid, permanent work.”

The report claims that out of the 54 parliamentary constituencies in the region, wages have only risen in real terms in Leeds East, Great Grimsby and York Central in the last three years. Labour’s figures suggest Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency has seen the biggest fall in real-terms wages with a drop of 20 per cent since 2010.

The Government last week launched a new employment allowance designed to make it easier for companies to take on new staff by offering them a £2,000 discount on their national insurance contributions.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post on the day of the launch, Chancellor George Osborne said: “It’s great news that unemployment is falling, it’s fallen in Yorkshire and tens of thousands of jobs have been created since the election.

“That’s great news but I think it would be very complacent to say ‘job done’. There is still a huge amount more work we have to do to make sure that people who are currently unemployed or can’t find work have a real opportunity of getting a job, not just because it’s good for our economy but because for those individuals concerned and their families what work brings is economic security and peace of mind that comes with having a job.”

He added: “The good news is that we are seeing jobs being created. In fact Yorkshire has had some of the highest rates of job creation in Britain.”

Mr Osborne said the Government was investing in schemes such as high-speed rail and putting money into science and infrastructure in the North to make sure the whole of the nation benefited from economic growth.