Government must do more to reduce unemployment, MPs warned
Nov 26 2009 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post
Labour MPs have warned that the Government must do more to reduce devastating levels of unemployment.
Birmingham MP Lynne Jones (Lab, Selly Oak), Black Country MP Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East) and Wolverhampton MP Ken Purchase (Lab, Wolverhampton North East) have called on the Government to hold an emergency jobs summit, bringing together business, trade unions and politicians to agree a jobs and growth strategy.
They made the plea in a Commons motion which has been backed by 20 MPs, including 17 Labour MPs, from across the country.
The West Midlands has been particularly hard hit by the recession and has become the region with the highest level of unemployment in the UK.
Latest figures showed 270,000 people are out of work, giving an unemployment rate of ten per cent.
Unemployment is falling, and the number of jobless a month earlier had been 14,000 higher.
But it still has a long way to go. Even with the recent fall in unemployment, the number of people on the dole in the West Midlands is 95,000 higher than it was a year ago.
Manufacturing has suffered more than most other sectors since the downturn begun, and the number of manufacturing jobs fell by 70,000, a drop of 11.9 per cent, in the past year.
This may explain why the West Midlands has overtaken the north east of England to become the region with the worst level of unemployment in the country.
But even before the recession, there were pockets of extreme deprivation.
The Birmingham constituencies of Ladywood, Hodge Hill and Sparkbrook and Small Heath have the highest unemployment levels in the United Kingdom, according to figures published by the House of Commons.
In Ladywood, 20 per cent of the working population, one in five people, is claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The Commons motion signed by MPs calls on the Government “to hold a national jobs summit involving business, trade unions and other key stakeholders to agree a jobs and growth strategy for the UK.”
It notes “the positive action already taken” to tackle unemployment, but adds: “Further action is still needed . . . a national jobs summit would bring together the necessary expertise and ideas to address the challenges and grasp the opportunities the UK will face in a post-recession world.”
The motion also calls on the Government “to focus its efforts to increase support to UK industry, particularly manufacturing, to protect jobs and to provide a greater investment in skills.”
