Public sector cuts put thousands ‘at risk’

THE Government’s austerity measures on public spending could lead to up to 53,000 jobs being lost in Yorkshire over the next five years, according to a new report.

The report, by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, also claims that rather than the regional economy being boosted by jobs moving from the public to private sector, the transition would actually cut £7.3bn from Yorkshire’s output.

If the strategy to transfer jobs to the private sector was a success, 5,000 jobs would still be lost in the region, the report by the agency, which is being wound down, found.

Towns and cities that will be worst affected by the public sector cuts include Barnsley, Hull, Sheffield and York, said the study.

The report comes after police made more than 200 arrests at the weekend as around 250,000 protesters took to London’s streets to campaign against government cuts to public spending.

The study’s authors conclude: “The private sector needs to create 1.3m jobs over the next five years in order for the Government’s job growth targets to be achieved.

“To put this in context, in the five years before the recession the UK economy created 1.5m jobs, 57% of which was in the private sector.

“This means that the private sector, which is emerging very tentatively from a deep recession, needs to create more than twice as many jobs as it did in the boom years, over the next five years. This is a very tall order indeed.”

However, the report did find that the private sectors in areas including Craven, Leeds and Rotherham would offset job losses in the public sector.