Jobs lost in the public sector will be 'more than offset' by employment created by businesses, chancellor George Osborne has said.
Giving his Autumn Statement, the chancellor said businesses were creating three jobs for each one lost in the public sector.
Affirming the Government was seeking a ‘job rich recovery for all’, Osborne said the total number of jobs was expected to have risen by 400,000 this year.
Unemployment is lower than in 2010 and is forecasted to fall from 7.6% this year to 7.1% in 2015, and 5.6% in 2018.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the last six months has fallen by over 200,000 - Osborne claimed – marking the largest fall for 16 years.
‘There are those who said it was a fantasy to believe business could create jobs more quickly than the public sector could lose them,’ Osborne said. ‘What they should have said is that it would be fantastic if it happened.’
‘The OBR forecasts 3.1m more jobs being created by business by 2019 that, in their words, “more than offsets” the million or so reduction in the public sector headcount.’
