250,000 jobs at risk at end of furlough, warns Brown
THE number of people on the jobs scrapheap in Scotland will soar beyond 250,000 unless urgent action is taken, a thinktank has warned.
The unemployment rate could hit 10 per cent within months after the furlough scheme ends, according to Gordon Brown’s Our Scottish Future group.
The former prime minister said Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson need to ‘bury the hatchet’ and work on a ‘programme for governments’ to tackle the looming jobs disaster.
He calls for furlough schemes for areas where local lockdowns are introduced, ‘sector deals’ for parts of the Scottish economy hit hardest by the pandemic, and extra cash to secure jobs for young people.
But Miss Sturgeon yesterday revealed her own programme for government, due to be unveiled next week, will be ‘constrained’ due to the focus on the pandemic.
Mr Brown said no country should resign itself to mass unemployment or ‘condemn thousands of its citizens, and particularly its poorest citizens, to months and possibly years without a job’.
The think-tank’s report says the end of the furlough scheme will be ‘a steep cliff edge for businesses over which many appear likely to fall’.
It says nearly one in three workers have been furloughed, and estimates around 21 per cent of employees have still not returned to work – while 55 per cent of firms say they are likely to axe jobs.
Unemployment increased by 11,000, to 124,000, in the period from April to June and now sits at 4.5 per cent, which is the highest in the UK.
The report says: ‘These figures imply that unless adequately addressed, Scotland could be facing unemployment of over 10 per cent.’
An unemployment rate of 10 per cent would take unemployment in Scotland significantly beyond 250,000.
Mr Brown said: ‘Scotland doesn’t just need a programme for government from ministers in Edinburgh.
‘We need a programme for governments in the form of an alliance for full employment, with Edinburgh and London coming together to stem a jobs disaster this autumn.
‘There is a real and urgent need for this. The mounting job losses are so great that they cannot be solved by the SNP working on its own, or the UK Government doing likewise. These challenges can only be met and mastered by the two of them working together. They need to bury the hatchet and... they need to work in partnership to make progress.’
The think-tank recommends extending furlough beyond October in areas where local lockdowns are introduced, ‘sector deals’ for hard-hit industries such tourism, retail and construction, and a ‘jobs guarantee’ for young people, with more apprenticeships.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘Today’s report is a clarion call to the UK and Scottish Governments. It’s time for them to work together to save and create jobs and to make full employment a goal of public policy again.’
Miss Sturgeon will unveil her programme for government on Tuesday. Yesterday, she said the economy and building the recovery from Covid19 would be ‘central’ to that.
But she added: ‘We have had to constrain what would normally have been our programme for this year so it will be more limited than what would otherwise be the case.
‘But also we are heading into the final parliamentary session before the Scottish election next May. So there will also be a smaller legislative programme because of the stage we’re at in the parliamentary cycle.’
‘Need to bury the hatchet’