Member News
15th August 2012The GMB trade union has attacked the Chancellor and called for a "change of direction" in economic policy after today's unemployment figures were released.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced today that the unemployment figures dropped to 2.56m in the three months to June, a figure of 8%, down from 8.2%.
Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary, said the figures show "the level of despair and waste of human talent in an economy going through this double dip recession".
"Cameron and Clegg should now conclude that Osborne is simply not up to the job of steering our economy and he should be moved to make way for a change of direction as he has proved beyond doubt that it is not possible to deflate your way to growth.
"The corporate sector too could also help reflate the economy by investing the billions in cash it has and pay a living wages to staff.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the figures show that the private sector is "remarkably robust even in difficult times - they are creating some 201,00 new jobs".
"It’s not just over the last few months, the last couple of quarters, you take it from 2010 the private sector has created nigh on a million new job against a backdrop of difficulty," he added.
Mr Duncan Smith also accused the unions of "carping alongside the Labour party and saying more should be done, when these are the people that attack the things that we’re doing".
He added: "The Youth Contract attacked by the TUC and the Labour party, puts another £1bn into helping subsidise young people back into work. Work Experience, which is what young people up and down the country asked us for – 'can we have time, when we’re still earning our unemployment benefits, but to get experience in jobs?' We’ve given them that."
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said that while jobs are being created in the private sector, they are not spread over the whole country.
"Jobs are being created in the private sector and jobs are being lost in the public sector, and that’s contributing to what I think is very different picture in different parts of the country," he said.
"The problem is that the private sector is not creating enough jobs all over the country, and crucially, look at what the warning signs are telling us about the road ahead - you’ve got an economy now in reverse for nine months, you’ve got competitors in Europe, in America, in Japan, with economies that are growing.
"Something is going wrong here in Britain, and that’s why we’re saying look, now is time for a change of course. When it comes to getting people back to work, now is the time to look at what’s coming down the track, act now to put more fuel in the tank."