North-East is toughest place in UK to find a job (From The Northern Echo)

Report says 14 people are chasing every job in Middlesbrough

6:00am Saturday 9th March 2013 in Business News By Steven Hugill

THE North-East is the toughest place to find a job in the UK with an average of eight people chasing every vacant post, a new report has revealed.

A survey shows nearly 14 unemployed workers in Middlesbrough are applying for each advertised post in the town, with about 11 people in Hartlepool battling to find a job and 10 vying for every vacancy in South Tyneside.

The report, from Unison, says the number of people looking for jobs across the region is five times higher than the amount of available posts, revealing nine people in Redcar and Cleveland and eight people in Stockton are fighting for every job.

The figures drop in Durham, where the report says there are nearly seven people claiming job seekers benefit per unfilled vacancy, with about five people per every available job in Darlington.

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, told The Northern Echo the report highlighted a worryingly deepening downward spiral in North-East employment, and called on Chancellor George Osborne to use his forthcoming Budget to stimulate the North-East economy and create more jobs.

He said: “These figures make sombre reading for the people of Middlesbrough and put us top of a league we do not want to be in.

“With 14 people chasing every job in this town, you have to ask when the Government will stop choking growth and give us the stimulus we need to get the economy back on its feet and our people back into work.

“George Osborne must rethink his deeply unfair and damaging austerity strategy.

“He needs to react to tackle the jobs crisis and drop draconian welfare cuts that are hurting people so much.”

The figures also showed an average of six unemployed workers were fighting for every job in Sunderland, with that figure falling for five in Newcastle.

Clare Williams, regional convenor for UNISON, said it was a worrying time for the region's public sector, which employs about 254,000 people.

She said: “There has been three long years of cuts, with more to come, and still there are not enough jobs to go around.

“The Government has sacrificed our recovery and the cuts have a stranglehold on the private sector.

“Figures show that between March 2008 and September 2012 public sector employment in the region has fallen by 10 per cent, which equates to 254,000 workers.

“The top three public-sector employers in the region are the NHS, education and public administration, and further Government cuts to the public sector will see more North-East job loses in the next 12 months.”