LGA leaders have reiterated their call for sub-regional management of the recession after new figures exposed vast differences in the impact of the recession within England.
Research by Smith Square shows ‘blue collar’ workers have lost the largest number of jobs over the past 12 months, but ‘white collar’ job losses are now rising at a faster rate.
The number of low-skilled trades claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 256,000 (77%) to 589,000, while the number of managers and professionals making benefit claims increased by 72,000 (154%) to 118,700.
The areas experiencing the largest number of low-skilled job losses were concentrated in the West Midlands, south Yorkshire and Wales.
Merseyside and Manchester feature among the areas losing skilled trades. Unsurprisingly, London and the south-east top the list of regions losing managerial and professional jobs.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, LGA vice-chairman, said the figures show ‘that different parts of the country are being affected in very different ways – even within individual regions’.
‘A national, one size fits all approach to dealing with the recession simply isn’t going to work. An unemployed factory worker from Barnsley or Birmingham needs to be retrained differently from a City finance analyst.’
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