Commenting on todays UK unemployment figures – showing a rise of
118,000 to 2.68m in the three months to November – UNISON General
Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:
The government is certainly setting records, but a 17-year high in
unemployment and a record number of young people without work is nothing
to be proud of. It must accept that its economic strategy isn’t working and act
now to help people who are struggling to find a job and stop another
generation of young people being thrown onto the scrapheap.
History is repeating itself. Now, as in the 1980s, the Tories are pushing
through cuts and ignoring the impact of their actions on communities across
the country.
Low paid women are also bearing the brunt, as they make up the majority of
the public sector – where 700,000 jobs are being cut by 2017. The private
sector is buckling under the pressure being put on it to pick up the pieces of
the public sector cuts.
The government must get a grip on the economy or watch with despair as
figures continue to rise.
Ends
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