UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES GLOOM FOR WALES:
UNEMPLOYMENT in Wales rose by 6,000 in the three months to the end of October leaving the country with one of the highest jobless rates in the UK.
The 4.7% rate is four percentage points above the UK average and the rise in Wales is also against the UK trend which saw both jobless and inwork rates fall while the number of economically inactive people – including students, those on longterm sick leave, taken early retirement or who have given up looking for work – rose.
In Wales the number of working age people in work also rose by 8,000, against the UK trend, to reach 1.38 million, an employment rate of 72.8%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “The labour market statistics published today show that we are building on strong foundations, with the second largest increase in employment rates of the UK regions over the quarter and with economic inactivity in Wales down on both the quarter and the year.
“We remain committed to working the with business community to drive growth. Yesterday we launched our new Economic Action Plan in order to strengthen our economic foundations, supercharge the industries of the future and empower Wales’ regions.
“And just this morning I met with Andrés Arizkorreta, the chief executive of Spanish train manufacturer CA, to discuss how we can work with the company to ensure their move to Newport delivers maximum benefits for our economy and creates hundreds of quality jobs.”
But Welsh Conservative shadow economy secretary Russell George said: “This rise in Welsh unemployment comes just a day after the launch of the Welsh Government’s latest economic rebranding.
“The lack of detail in the document was telling, and confirmed our worst fears – that the Welsh Labour Government doesn’t have a sufficient plan for economic growth.
“Fortunately for the people of Wales, the UK Government is working hard to create the right conditions for sustainable growth. What we now need is to see the Labour administration playing its part, with a meaningful plan to create jobs and boost wages and productivity.”
And Plaid Cymru shadow economy secretary Adam Price drew said the economy was “going backwards” under Labour’s leadership.
He said: “Less than six months ago, unemployment in Wales was down to 4% yet it has crept back up again with few signs of increased productivity and growth in the meantime… The economic action plan, launched with fanfare, trumpeted the fact that Wales has a lower rate of unemployment than the UK average. Less than 24 hours later the Welsh Government’s economic strategy is already failing.”
He added: “Yet again we see our nation lagging behind most other nations and regions of the United Kingdom. Such an imbalanced settlement where Westminster keeps hold of major fiscal powers is working against Wales’ interests and leading to stagnant wages and a fall in living standards.
“Wales must be able to chart its own economic course, empowered with the necessary tools to invest in infrastructure, create jobs and generate the wealth required to properly invest in our public services.”
The UK-wide figures tell a different story to Wales with the number of people out of work falling by 26,000 to 1.4 million, 182,000 lower than a year ago.
But the number in work also fell by 56,000, the biggest quarterly drop in more than two years.
There are just over 32 million people in employment across the UK, but the 56,000 reduction between August and October is the largest since the three months to May 2015.
The UK claimant count, which includes people on Jobseeker’s Allowance and the unemployment element of Universal Credit, increased by 5,900 last month to 817,500. In Wales it reached 39,100.
Average earnings across the UK increased by 2.5% in the year to October, 0.2% up on the previous month, although pay is still growing at less than the rate of inflation.
THE hike in unemployment in Wales is the type of finding the country would rather have done without out just before Christmas.
The increase in the number of unemployed from 65,000 to 71,000 for the three months to October does not necessarily mean Wales is about to tumble back into the era of mass unemployment – but it is a reminder of just how many people face the hardship, fear and uncertainty that come with the absence of a job.
To see that number growing is concerning. There are families across Wales for whom Christmas gifts and a December 25 feast will seem out of reach this year; thousands of parents will get up to put the heating on, think of the bill that will land on their doormat, and wonder how they will pay it.
The gnawing worry for the nation is that this is just a taste of what is to come if the country dips into another recession. Downgraded growth forecasts, wage stagnation and high household debt are all warning signs for the economy – and then there is the uncertainty of Brexit.
A Rand Corporation analysis this week warned that while a no-deal Brexit was the “worst situation for the future”, all “‘soft Brexit’ options are still worse economically than staying in the EU”.
The UK is due to leave the EU in March 2019 and the speculation about what awaits will grow more intense through 2018. If this leads to the type of anxiety which will stop companies hiring new staff, pursuing expansion opportunities and investing in skills and equipment our economy will be in an inevitably weaker state by the time Brexit comes around.
There is likely to be even greater uncertainty during any two-year transition phase as diplomats scramble to agree a long-term deal with the EU. If this is coupled with political chaos then the threat of economic harm will intensify.
These are unwelcome worries. Wales is trying to move on from the effects of the financial crisis of a decade ago and the challenge of revitalising former industrial heartlands will continue for decades.
Our communities have among the worst levels of skills and earnings in Britain, our economic inactivity rate is the joint second-highest in the UK and, as today’s Welsh Government paper demonstrates, there are concerns about the loss of European Union funding.
The Welsh Government wants “every penny of the £370m that Wales currently receives from the EU each year to be replaced by the UK Government”. It also rejects the proposals for a new “UK Prosperity Fund” and calls for the creation of a “Council of Economic Ministers from all four nations to ensure coordination of policy across the UK”.
Some in Whitehall argue that if billions of euros have failed to boost Wales’ position in the overall economic league table then it’s high time for a new approach. But others will think campaigners in Wales for the continued closest possible integration with the single market are making a sensible point at a time of danger. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%