Unemployment In North Durham Up 6% In One Month

Unemployment in North Durham has gone up by some 6% in just one month as the North East continues to be the region hit the hardest by the recession. Indeed, unemployment in North Durham has increased by a shocking 125% since December 2007.

That is over 1,500 more families suffering from the devastation of unemployment over the past two years. I have spoken to so many people in North Durham over the past few months who have been terribly affected by unemployment and are, rightly, demanding that the Government should do more to create jobs in the area.

That is why I'm calling for the creation of 100,000 new apprenticeships and training places; 50,000 new Further Education places and 10,000 more Higher Education places. I'm calling for more to be done to incentivise job creation and to encourage business to create jobs. I'm calling for action to put our area at the forefront of green industry and I'm calling for a personalised careers advice service for everybody looking for work.

We need urgent action to deal with our area's jobs crisis. This Government is not proviing the action we need.