Challenges for the region
Kevin Rowan, TUC Northern Regional Secretary, relfects on the North East's employment challenges.
WHILE the general consensus seems to point to us being over the worst in terms of economic decline, nobody is yet talking about green shoots.
Teesside’s process and chemical industries are still not out of the woods, the public sector is looking at significant cuts next year and many private sector firms have between 20%-30% capacity to pick up before embarking on recruitment, so we are not likely to see a big increase in employment for some time.
What is needed now is an urgent review of long term unemployment strategies.
We are seeing some significant growth in the number of long term unemployed and worryingly still, the Jobseeker’s Allowance statistics reflect a substantial increase in short term figures too, a direct result of the downturn.
However, the Future Jobs Fund does offer a bright spot on the horizon. This is generally held to be a positive opportunity for the nation’s young people to access real jobs, which will provide the all important experience needed to carve out a career.
How it is managed will be critical to its success and with impending public sector cuts, more responsibility will by necessity fall on the private sector.
The energy sector also offers some cheer. While there are still skill shortages in those industries where there is an ageing workforce, the energy sector shows a great deal of potential, so we must find a way of addressing higher level skills needs quickly.
Here in the region, the TUC is focused on providing an even better service for its members. We will be appointing a manager to advise on ‘recovery from the recession’ who will be advising employers on the TUC’s wide-ranging support package to enable them (and their employees) to progress.
And despite the downturn, we are still really busy with training and development programmes through unionlearn with the recession providing more opportunity rather than less for up-skilling during these quieter times.
We are also looking at financial inclusion.
It is a real shock to be made redundant, but it you get the right advice and guidance about how to manage financially, it can make all the difference.
There is still some way to go to ensure that the local and regional employability strategies are both heading in the same direction but the developing role of the Tyne and City Region Employment and Skills Board now makes further improvement in this area a realistic goal.
:: For more information, contact the TUC regional office on 0191 232 3175 or www.tuc.org.uk
