Town's jobless total jumps 5.4%

THE number of unemployed and claiming benefit in Warrington has increased by 5.4 per since the end of December, according to the GMB union.
Warrington now has 4,102 people unemployed and claiming benefit – a rate of 3.2 per cent, says the union.
In December, the jobless total in the town was 3,892 – a rate of 3.0 per cent. But by January, the number of unemployed claimants had risen by 210.
Union chiefs blame job losses in public services for the bulk of the increase – and claims there are another 29,812 council jobs facing the axe in the North West.
They say the number of unemployed claimants in the region rose by 10,551 between December and January to a total of 183,557 – 4.1 per cent of the total workforce.
The jobless total in the region is much higher, at 258,000, when those not on the register and students seeking work are included, the GMB claims.
Warrington’s unemployment rate is better than neighbouring Halton, at 5.5 per cent, St Helens, 4.6 per cent or Salford, 4.7 per cent, but worse than Trafford, at 3.1 per cent, Cheshire East, 2.5 per cent.
But the increase in Warrington from December to January, 5.4 per cent, is worryingly higher than Halton, 4.6 per cent, Salford, 3.3 per cent or Trafford, 5.0 per cent.
GMB regional secretary Paul McCarthy said, “This rise in unemployment in the North West is no surprise since the Government itself, with the vocal support of the bankers who caused the recession, is deliberately creating unemployment with public sector cuts.
“Tens of thousands of council workers who volunteered for redundancy have already left and have joined the unemployed register. This is on top of the tens of thousands of vacant jobs in local councils that have already been scrapped. So far GMB has logged over 162,000 direct job losses in the pipeline in 290 councils with more to come, of which 29,812 are in the North West. That figure does not include job losses in the related voluntary and private sectors due to cuts in public funds or job cuts in other parts of the public sector.
“The ‘hair shirt brigade’ from the City, baying for a rise in interest rates, needs to be told that it is not possible to deflate your way to growth and a balanced budget.”