Bury Liberal Democrats say that new unemployment figures for Bury point to a jobs crisis for the borough. The figures, released today by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) reveal that there are 60% more local people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance than a year ago.

 

Commenting on the figures, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Bury North Cllr Richard Baum said “These figures are a shocking display of how Labour’s mishandling of the economy is having a real impact on local people. There are now thousands more people out of work and claiming benefits in Bury than a year ago. This is terrible news for them, for our borough, and for the local economy. And the figures may not tell the whole truth. When people stop spending their redundancy pay, or come back to Job Seekers Allowance from other benefits, the true scale of the problem could be much worse”

 

There is particularly bad news for the long term unemployed and for jobless young people. There are nearly one third more long term unemployed claimants in Bury than a year ago, and the numbers of young people out of work in the borough has risen by 48%. Cllr Baum continued “Labour claim to be tackling the economic crisis. But tell that to the people of Bury desperately struggling to get out of long term unemployment, and tell that to the young people leaving college and joining the dole queues.”

 

Job Centres in Bury have reported steep falls in vacancies. Cllr Baum said “There are 66% fewer vacancies in Bury’s job centres compared to just a month ago. These figures are the worst for any borough in Greater Manchester, and reveal the level of this crisis. The Labour government are doing nothing to tackle this crisis. Gordon Brown is off trying to save the world, but people in Bury need jobs now, and there aren’t any. The government are letting the people of Bury down.”