AT LEAST half of the 2,000 people who lost their jobs at SSI Redcar are still looking for work but those figures show "only a fraction of the tragedy," an MP has said.

A Government report showed that between the date of the steelworks closure last October, and earlier this month, 1,940 former SSI employees had made a claim for jobseeker's allowance, although 690 stopped claiming during the period.

Labour MP Anna Turley, who is part of the taskforce that helps former Tees steelworkers into training and work, feared the jobless numbers failed to convey the devastating impact SSI’s demise had on the region.

She said: "These figures only show those who have sought help, not everyone affected. We know that over 3,000 people lost their jobs immediately, including supply chain businesses, and the knock on effect on other small enterprises such as childminders and decorators is even harder to quantify.

"Add to this the further redundancies from Boulby Potash and Air Products and you can see the scale of crisis on Teesside, which makes a mockery of the government's northern powerhouse agenda."

Business minister Anna Soubry this week said the "there are lessons to be learnt" from the end of steelmaking on Teesside and the Government "have already learnt some of them."

The plant's closure was a symptom of the crisis facing Britain’s steel industry, ravaged by high energy costs and cheap Chinese imports, which worsened this week when Tata announced 1,050 job cuts, more than 60 of them at its Hartlepool pipe mills.

Later this month the SSI taskforce will host its latest jobs fair when more than 300 vacancies will be up for grabs. Companies recruiting at the event held at Middlesbrough College on Wednesday, January 27 from 10am to 3pm include Preston’s of Potto, ElringKlinger (GB), NCS Energy Recruitment, Barclays, AXA, Cleveland Police and RMS Recruitment. More than 200 people have already found work as a direct result of the previous two SSI jobs fairs.

Ms Turley added: "It is no surprise to me that despite the good partnership work of local agencies, colleges and the taskforce, the numbers out of work are still so high. Many are still waiting for training courses or are applying for jobs that are hugely oversubscribed.

"Nothing will replace the role of the steelworks as the bedrock of our local economy and it is going to take a long time for our economy, and all these broken lives, to recover."

See Tuesday’s Northern Echo as Anna Turley MP describes the human cost of SSI’s closure.