The NI Conservatives’ enterprise spokesman, Johnny Andrews, has criticised DETI minister, Arlene Foster, for a “complacent attitude” to rising unemployment.
The latest Labour Market Statistics show that joblessness in Northern Ireland has increased by almost 1% since the first quarter of the year and there are also more people claiming out of work benefits. In contrast, across the whole of the United Kingdom, there are 201,000 more people in work than during the previous quarter.
“The growing number of people who are without a job in Northern Ireland is cause for real concern”, Johnny observed. “This executive said it wanted to rebalance our economy and create employment in the private sector, but it is clearly failing in quite spectacular fashion. While the number of people in work in the rest of the United Kingdom is growing and while workers in GB are increasingly moving from the public to the private sector, Northern Ireland appears to be going in the opposite direction.”
“The enterprise minister keeps pointing to the fact that our overall unemployment rate is still below equivalent rates elsewhere, but that figure is misleading, because an unsustainable number of our jobs are in the public sector. Against that background, the executive’s failure to boost the private sector is particularly lamentable and the long term effects will be very severe.”
“Ministers do have tools at their disposal. They already have powers to implement enterprise zones, but, unlike every other part of the UK, they have chosen not to use them. They could provide incentives - like rates relief - to exporters, or emergency loans for small and medium sized businesses. They could speak with one voice on the potential of devolving powers to cut Corporation Tax, but instead the finance minister seems determined to derail that important process.”
“The truth is that this executive is not business friendly, it is not growth friendly and it is failing to create jobs. Arlene Foster should drop the excuses, drop the complacent attitude and start to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. Because, without a credible plan which prioritises growing the private sector, even more people here will be condemned to joblessness.”