AVERAGE WAGES SHOW TRUE IMPACT OF JOB LOSSES IN REGIONS- HOLMES

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Jul 2003

Paul Holmes MP for Chesterfield

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in major industries during the last year according to the Office of National Statistics.

• Manufacturing suffered 125,000 job losses

• Agriculture and Fishing suffered 36,000 job losses

• Finance and Business suffered 22,000 job losses.

Average earnings for different regions illustrate that some areas are being left behind to suffer economic stagnation because the Government will not address the north-south divide in Britain's economy.

Increases in average weekly wage between April 1997 and April 2002 show disturbing variations. In the North East, wages increased by £72, but in London the increase doubled to £144.

Commenting, Paul Holmes MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Work, said: "The prolonged imbalance between regional economies will be to the detriment of Britain as a whole."

"The Government has failed to use the strong period of growth in recent years to deal with the lack of competitiveness caused by the overvaluation of the pound."

"Unemployment figures merely show the economic trend, but average wages offer a snap shot of life under this Government's two speed economy. While the south of the country is booming, other regions are locked into economic stagnation."

"As the end product of economic activity, the Government should be using wage levels to test the temperature of their economic policies. The south is running a temperature and the north is trying desperately to keep warm."

"For as long as this situation continues, the government will continue to sell this country short by not tapping into the skill sets and workforce available in regions beyond the South East."

"It doesn't say much about the virility of national economic policy when the benefits cannot be felt beyond The Wash."

"Ministers must get to grips with the real economy of our towns and rural areas. Small scale factory closures have as detrimental an effect on the local community as the high-profile collapses that make news headlines."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The claimant count - the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance increased in June. It increased by 1,700 to 952,000. There was an average monthly rise of 4,300 over the last three months. Over the last year, 36,000 jobs lost in agriculture & fishing; 125,000 manufacturing jobs lost; 22,000 finance & business services jobs lost. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/lms0703.pdf