100,000 more jobless by summer

A new study by think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has predicted an extra 100,000 people will be without a job before the end of summer with unemployment not set to fall for 18 months.

London, north-west and Yorkshire are some of the worst hit, while West Midlands and the south-west will see unemployment fall.

The IPPR said it expected 50,000 more men and a similar number of women will become unemployed this year as public-sector jobs continue to be cut.

Over 40,000 of those becoming jobless will be under the age of 25.

IPPR senior research fellow Kayte Lawton said: "The personal tragedy of the slow economic recovery is the way unemployment will continue to rise over the next year, even once the economy begins to grow. This has been the longest recession and the slowest recovery that Britain has ever experienced."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman claimed the government was committed to "new opportunities for young people, including apprenticeships and work experience placements," pledging £1 billion to a new "youth contract" to tackle youth unemployment.

But Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke attacked the government for providing "failed 1980s solutions to '80s problems," urging an "interventionist industrial strategy" for the country instead.

"This inept Con-Dem government said the jobs lost in the public sector would be adequately compensated for in manufacturing and the private sector.

"This has not happened," he said.

"Rehashing '80s-style enterprises zones and slashing workers' rights by making it easier to sack people within the first two years of their employment is not the way forward."

Economist and lecturer Prem Sikka added: "This is the inevitable consequence of the ideological warfare being conducted by the government.

"The austerity programme is unnecessary.

"The government only needs to invest a small fraction of the money showered on bankers to create new industries and jobs."

johnm@peoples-press.com