UUP Comments On Latest Unemployment Figures

Ulster Unionist Economy spokesperson Sandra Overend MLA has commented on the latest unemployment figures which have been released.

They show that an additional 600 people were added to the local claimant count which now stands at 64,100. This means that 3,600 people have been added to the claimant count over the last 12 months at a time when the figure has been decreasing for the UK as a whole.

Mid-Ulster MLA Mrs Overend said: "It is all too easy to talk about these figures as if they are some kind of abstract statistic and lose sight of the fact that they represent real people and real families suffering real hardship.

"It is a sobering thought that as bad as the current figures are, they are likely to get worse once the impact of job losses at Pattons in Ballymena work their way through the system and earlier this week I meet with sub-contractors who highlighted the plight of a number of small and medium businesses totalling over 2,000 employees and who are owed nearly £15m from Pattons. The Ulster Unionist Party believe that we need to encourage more public private infrastructure projects as well as lobbying for a reduced VAT rate for the repair, maintenance and improvement of existing dwellings to help the construction industry specifically and the Assembly backed both these policies this week.

"The unemployment situation is actually improving in the United Kingdom as a whole with the claimant count in the UK standing at 4.8% having fallen by 0.7 per cent over the past 12 months whereas our Claimant count is 7%, up 6% from last year. Northern Ireland cannot afford to fall further behind.

"Every month in Northern Ireland a bad situation gets worse. Last month I wrote to the Prime Minister to urge him to move on the devolution of Corporation tax varying powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Ulster Unionist Party remains convinced that this would be the greatest contribution which we could make to re-balancing the Northern Ireland economy and helping grow the private sector to create the jobs and hope our people so desperately need."

(CD/GK)