NW facing public sector hit says research

THE NORTH West looks set to be among the regions hardest hit by job cuts in the public sector, according to research from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young.

Three North West locations  – Liverpool, Blackpool and Preston – are in the top 10 towns and cities with the greatest percentage of workforce employed by the public sector – Liverpool.

Liverpool is joint third with 39% says UHY Hacker Young, Blackpool is equal seventh with 37% and Preston in joint ninth place with 35%.

Manchester – the biggest city in the region, looks set to be less hard hit by looming cuts, and is 29th out of the 50 worst affected towns with 29% of its workforce in the public sector.

However, UHY Hacker Young says that compared to the South of England, Northern towns and cities generally have a higher concentration of public sector workers, which means they are more likely to suffer from cuts in public spending.

The firm’s research amongst the top 50 towns and cities shows that seven out of the top 10 locations with the highest percentage of public sector workers are in the North or Scotland, whilst 7 out of the 10 places with the lowest proportion of public sector workers are in the South.

The average percentage of workers employed in the public sector is 33% in the North and 27% in the South. Overall, the national average is 30%.

Clive Gawthorpe, Partner at UHY Hacker Young says “Cities like Manchester must fight to ensure that the 25% spending cuts to government departments announced in the emergency budget do not lead to a sudden spike in unemployment and a further widening of the North-South divide.