Islington News: Jobcentre | Redundancy

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 09 January 2009

Recession hits home as job losses mount

Islington tops central London league

STRUGGLING employers in Islington have reported more redundancies to the government than any other borough in central London.
Figures released by Jobcentre reveal there were 1,479 job losses – from 11 employers – in November last year, nearly 20 per cent of the total redundancies in central London.
Neighbouring Camden suffered 677 redundancies (8.8 per cent of London’s total), while Westminster had 943 (12.3 per cent).
Overall, in central London there were 7,686 job losses, from 98 employers.
But the real figure could be much higher, as the statistics only include employers making 20 or more people redundant.
The worst affected sectors in Islington are telecommunications, finance, travel, social work, technology, architecture, health and the postal service.
Islington South Labour MP Emily Thornberry said: “I’ve been going to weekly meetings with Treasury ministers since October to make sure Islington people benefit from the government’s downturn rescue package, which includes a plan to create 100,000 jobs through public works.
“Islington is a place where a huge number of people work – the borough’s population doubles during the day because of commuters – so these figures remind us how important it is for the government to step in.
“The Tories’ do-nothing attitude will be useless to people most severely affected by job losses.”
However, Lib Dem deputy council leader Lucy Watt urged caution over the figures, as they included employers with their headquarters in London.
“I’m more interested in the unemployment figures,” she said. “These haven’t increased nearly as much as outer London or the rest of the country.
“We’re bringing proposals to introduce 100 apprenticeships to the executive next week. We’re doing a lot of work with Jobcentre Plus to make sure they are providing high-quality services for people.”

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