Job crisis getting worse (From Haringey Independent)

Job crisis getting worse

12:55pm Wednesday 18th March 2009 in Top Stories By Elizabeth Pears

There is now just one job for every 29 jobseekers in Tottenham, new figures reveal.

Data published today by the Office of National Statistics shows the demand for jobs in Tottenham, which has a well-documented history of unemployment, vastly outweighs the number of jobs available.

Unemployment in Tottenham is now at 12.8 per cent with 5.4 per cent receiving income support.

It is the highest percentage of social benefit claimants in London.

But the jobs crisis across Haringey is getting worse.

There were 2,000 more applications for Jobseeker's Allowance across the borough than last year.

There are 7,500 unemployed residents — but only 721 job vacancies.

And at 8.7 per cent, Haringey's unemployment rate is 3.5 per cent higher than the national average of 5.2 per cent.

Keith Flett, chairman of Haringey Trades Council, said: "These truly dreadful figures underline the havoc the economic crisis is now having in Haringey.

"It is not just that people are losing their jobs it is that their chances of getting another however hard they try are slim."

Mr Flett said the Government needed to act to curb the crisis by subsidising wages in a bid to stop companies from making redundancies.

More investment in creating new jobs and more investment for staff at job centres was also needed, he said.

Mr Flett added: "It is time the Government stopped bailing out bankers and invested in ordinary people."