West Lancs unemployment higher now than in June 1997

OVER the past few months, I’ve blogged about the unemployment figures for West Lancashire.

But seeing as we’re slap bang in the middle of a General Election, I thought I’d look back to 1997 to make a straight comparison.

Labour came to power in May 1997 and the following month, the unemployment figures were released showing that, here in West Lancs, 4.3% of people were out of work.

Fast forward to today and that figure is now higher at 4.6%

Indeed, if you take the North West as a whole, unemployment is slightly higher now than in June 1997 (4.7% compared with 4.6% back then).

Of course, since 1997 we’ve had a massive boom followed by an unprecedented bust which raised the amount of people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance to 5.1% locally.

However, as I’ve said in previous posts, these ‘headline’ figures hide a much starker reality in that there are parts of West Lancs which have unemployment rates of double that, and they’re usually in the more deprived areas.

Take the following current rates, which are all above the national average:

- Digmoor (12.7%)
- Tanhouse (11.5%)
- Birch Green (9.4%)
- Moorside (8.9%)

Speaking about the national picture, reports out today show that unemployment is at a 16 year high at 2.5 million.

We’re also told that over one in four working age adults doesn’t have a job, with the number of ‘economically inactive’ people – people who have dropped out of the jobs market altogether – at a record high.

Coupled with the other news this week that inflation has now risen sharply to 3.4% (or 4.4% for the Retail Prices Index, which includes housing costs), it will certainly give voters food for thought as voters prepare to ‘make their mark’ on their ballot papers on May 6th.

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