“The small national drop in unemployment today masks the reality of rising under-employment across the country and in particularly the upward trend in the West Midlands” warned UNISON regional secretary, Ravi Subramanian today.
“The West Midlands is fast becoming a regional unemployment black spot. It is a tale of two cities: those in the city that have and those in the rest of the cities, like ours in the West Midlands, who have not. The government should be ashamed because they are the drivers of unnecessary ideological cuts which mean that 7,000 more people have not got a job this month. There is no sign of recovery for the 276,000 jobless searching for work in the West Midlands, many are young who have not been able to get that all important first job.”
“The government needs to get a grip on the lack of opportunities for our young people. Yesterday we heard about the disastrous state of careers advice in schools. Shutting down the Connexions service was a big mistake. Pupils need to get comprehensive careers advice to enable them to make the right choices and tackling that lack of support must be a priority.
“For those in work, the news that average earnings have only risen by 1.1%, underlines the growing gap between inflation and wages. Many more families are struggling to pay every day bills with the cost of fruit and vegetables rising by 14%, astronomical fuel bills and the cost of travel and housing soaring, with pensioners also being hit hard.”
