Lanarkshire jobless total rises for fourth month in a row

Apr 22 2010

THE pall of economic gloom that has hung over Lanarkshire for approaching two years still shows little sign of clearing.

Unemployment in February in the county climbed for the fourth month in a row, and the number of 18 to 24-year-olds out of work is up almost 25 per cent compared with the figures 12 months ago.

The only detectable ‘green shoots’ are, perhaps, the number of Jobcentre vacancies which rose by 373 between January and February.

According to the latest statistics, the number on Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) in Lanarkshire in February was 22,170 compared with 21,342 the previous month - a 3.8 per cent rise.

In February, the number of JSA claimants in South Lanarkshire was 9737 while in North Lanarkshire the figure was 12,403.

Unemployment in Lanarkshire is up 28 per cent year-on-year, with the number of the county’s 18 to 24-year-olds on JSA up 23.4 per cent, from 5325 to 6570, over the same period.

Jobcentre vacancies in Lanarkshire rose from 1102 in January to 1475 in February, according to the latest figures.

However, there were in February in South Lanarkshire, 17 claimants chasing every Jobcentre vacancy.

In North Lanarkshire during the same month, there were 13 JSA claimants for every unfilled Jobcentre vacancy.

Among the many county companies who have recently badly hit by the recession are:

McKindless Buses, Newmains, who shed 80 staff in February.

Chard Builders, Blantyre, axed 110 staff after calling in administrators in January.

Kilwuddie Construction, East Kilbride but formerly Hamilton, went into receivership in January with the loss of 125 jobs.

Bone Group, Wishaw, who supply steel to the construction industry, went into receivership last week with the loss of 113 jobs (see story page 38).

On the plus side, Sainsbury announced in January plans to extend their Hamilton store, creating 80 new jobs.

And the county’s two councils, NHS Lanarkshire and more than 40 voluntary organisations have taken advantage of cash from the Government’s £1 billion Future Jobs fund to provide 200 temporary jobs for 18 to 24-year-olds.

Lanarkshire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Douglas Millar could see few signs of a recovery.

“A lot of companies are under pressure in terms of cash flow and continue to find it difficult to get money out of the banks to invest in new staff,” he added.

“The hotel and corporate sector has been toiling, spending in pubs and clubs throughout the county is not what it was and the retail sector is enjoying mixed fortunes.”

Mr Millar said the only brightness amongst the gloom lay with exports.

“We process export documents for a number of firms,” he added.

“In the last three months we have process about 200 documents compared with 150 for the same time last year.

“That is a good sign but you have to bear in mind that before the Credit Crunch we were processing up to 250 export documents over a three-month period.”