01.04.14
Creating ‘artificial’ public sector jobs doesn’t work – Osborne
The government will not spend billions of pounds creating “artificial” jobs in the public sector, in its attempts to lower the unemployment rate, the chancellor George Osborne has stated.
Speaking at Tilbury Port, yesterday, he said the Conservatives are committed to achieving full employment. But he added: “Unemployment is never a price worth paying, but artificial jobs paid for with borrowed money doesn't work either.”
Many commentators have said that the chancellor’s move will be seen as “an invasion” of Labour’s natural territory in a bid to gain more support from working class voters.
Osborne stated: “We need more jobs to be created in Britain. And we have an ambitious new goal. We want Britain to be the best place in the world for you to find a job.
“The old way has failed. More public spending means you end up with more people unemployed instead of less. Then the politicians who make these guarantees get into a panic. So, unemployed people are pushed on to sickness benefits to hide the real numbers.”
In order to stimulate activity in the employment market, he added that the government is backing business by “cutting their taxes so they can create jobs; cutting the tax on hard working people so their job pays; and holding back welfare rises and imposing more conditions on those claiming the dole, so that getting a job pays more”.
The TUC, which has welcomed Osborne’s statement, added that the 2.3 million people currently without work across the UK will be heartened to learn that the chancellor is committed to the goal of full employment and making work pay.
“However,if George Osborne wants to achieve these important objectives he needs to address the living standards crisis and secure fairer wages, especially for low-paid workers, not cut their tax credits. Benefit cuts are not the route to full employment,” said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.
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