15.09.11
Public sector job cuts continue
Public sector job cuts continue, putting 110,000 out of work in the second quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics. The total number of jobless people rose by 80,000 between April and June this year.
The public sector job losses have been five times greater than predicted by the OBR, as in March, 20,000 were expected to be lost this year. A total of 250,000 public sector jobs have been cut in the past year.
Kevin Rowan, from the Northern TUC, said: “The cuts are hurting but not working - at all. They are simply bleeding the life out of the North East economy and we need urgent, remedial action to stem the flow and save us from a bleak future.”
Scott Corfe, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: “The number of people employed in the public sector fell by a staggering 111,000 between March and June, suggesting that job shedding in the public sector is occurring at a much more rapid rate than anticipated.
“The fact that private sector job creation was just 41,000 over this time period confirms our long-held view that the private sector labour market would be unable to offset public sector job losses in the short-term.”
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