As new unemployment figures were announced yesterday showing massive unemployment increases across the UK, Andrew Turner the Island’s MP questioned figures released last week by the TUC which claimed that the Isle of Wight was the hardest place to find work in the UK. The TUC said that official statistics show that there are now 60 job seekers for every vacancy on the Island – against an average of 10 across the UK.
Mr Turner asked independent House of Commons Library statisticians to examine the TUC figures after hearing the claims. He learnt that the figure was arrived at by dividing the total number of claimants of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) by the number of vacancies into Jobcentre Plus offices in a single month.
Mr Turner said:
“I certainly don’t want to minimise the very real problems that people are facing during this economic downturn – each number represents a painful personal story. Yesterday we heard dreadful news on the jobs front, with over 2m unemployed nationally, and an increase of 353 people claiming JSA locally. Times are certainly hard and are likely to get worse before they get better – sadly we are all aware of that.
“I’m sure the TUC didn’t mean to mislead, but presenting the Island as the worst place for employment in the UK and some sort of economic basket-case isn’t accurate and doesn’t help anyone. We have 6.2% unemployment for people of working age on the Island, against a national average of 6.5%.
Commenting on how the figure was arrived at he had the following comments:
“The Island’s sample size is a perennial problem – we are a small county and tiny fluctuations in numbers can give rise to very different outcomes. The TUC counted only jobs advertised through Jobcentre Plus in a single month; nationally only about one third of vacancies are advertised that way and there is anecdotal evidence that a smaller percentage of jobs go through Jobcentre Plus in rural areas like the Island.
Mr Turner also called for a rethink on training opportunities as the official announcement of the February unemployment figures for the Island showed an increase to 3,508 – (from 3,155 in January). This is 6.2% of working age people, ranking us at 202nd out of 644 constituencies. The national average rate is 6.5% with Birmingham Ladywood at the very top of the table with a claimant rate of 21.9% and Westmorland and Lonsdale at the bottom with 1.7% of the working population claiming JSA.
He went on to say;
“Clearly the most important thing now is that the Government gets on and helps people that are suffering through no fault of their own. A significant step would be to allow people to undertake retraining immediately rather than having to wait for 18 months as they do presently. That would enable people to skill themselves to take advantage of vacancies that do arise and are equipped for work when the recession finally starts to ease.”
