On Wednesday (17th August) the latest unemployment figures for Wales (and the UK) were released for the Office for National Statistics and showed a 10,000 increase in the number of unemployed in Wales is 122,000 or 8.4% of the workforce, the data also showed a small increase in the number claiming Job Seeker Allowance (JSA) in the past three months as well – bad but not a real surprise.
Now 122,000 unemployed is bad enough, but in the coming months as a result of the UK Government’s changes to Incapacity Benefit and Income Support normally claimed by single parents a total of 70,000 individuals in Wales moved on to the JSA claimant count according to the Department of Work & Pensions own figures, so we are potentially looking at 190,000 people in Wales looking for jobs over the next few years. A truly scary prospect in a Welsh economy heavily reliant on the public sector for employment and no discernible political interest in the impact of the changes Cardiff Bay.
We also found out on Wednesday from ITV Wales Political Editor Adrian Masters that the Business Department civil servants were being moved en mass to the QED Centre on the Treforest Industrial Estate at the request of the Business Minster Edwina Hart. Nothing should surprise us with the Welsh Government anymore and apart from the obvious cost as others have pointed out Business Department civil servants are based all over Wales, we should know if this has Carwyn’s approval and whether there has been any Cabinet discussion about this? And why is only ITV Wales reporting the story?
So aside from the fact our new Business Minister’s top priority has been rearranging her department and hiring communications reinforcements at a time when the financial market are in turmoil, economic growth is slowing and job losses are mounting and both Scottish and Northern Irish Government Minister’s have taken to the airwaves to try and reassure voters and make new policy announcements on jobs and skills while also being in recess – there was no sign of Edwina Hart or her boss First Minister Carwyn Jones on an important day for Welsh economic news to comment on the state of the Welsh jobs market and the unemployment figures or the major announcement on changes in the Business Department at Welsh Government.
But then what did we expect from a Minister who in her first interview in June since her appointment more or less admitted defeat with her ‘were a regional government on the edge of Europe’ remark and a First Minister who only seems interested in scoring points like his remarks in the aftermath of riots rather than leading the Country in these uncertain times.
Any source
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