Kevin Rowan column

Apr 25 2005 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal

The General Election is in many ways a huge distraction.

Many of the Government agencies are all `frozen' by a period of purdah, unsure about whether or not initiatives and projects will continue, or if they will be subject to a complete change of direction as a new regime enters office. In some ways the election is a useful opportunity to reflect on the achievements, or to focus on the failure, of the Government.

And that election period is inevitably dominated by party and media concentration on the issues that they see as important. Issues, it seems, are selected and programmed on a daily basis. This week we have focused on immigration and asylum, two very different issues but linked together because they both deal with `foreigners'. This is a major issue for the North-East. I was contacted by a journalist this week to see if the TUC had any objections to the fact that one of the prestigious hotels in the region was forced to employ migrant labour, arguing that there weren't enough skilled people to fill vacancies in catering and cooking occupations. The migration aspects of this issue are only one part of the discussion here. The hospitality, tourism and leisure industry is one of the booming sectors in the region, growing rapidly and creating opportunities for all.

In the last year the service sector has grown by around 6,000. But many of the jobs in this sector are low skilled, poor quality, low paid jobs. As such, they do not prove to be attractive options for many workers and the evidence tells us that migrant workers, from much poorer countries than the UK, are more prepared to take these jobs than UK workers.

This is an opportunity to bring more workers into the region, something we should all welcome and appreciate as, not only does it help to buck the trend of declining population, it also helps the North-East to become a much more diverse place to live, and that will add to the dynamism and cultural energy of the region. But we also need to do much more than just fill low quality occupations with whoever is prepared to accept them. One of the challenges for the region is not just to create jobs, but to seek to improve the quality of all employment, so that work means an opportunity for individuals to develop their skills and to progress.

Perhaps then we will have workers from all nations aspiring to those occupations, rather than having employers struggling to fill vacancies.