Some areas to be hit hard by job cuts

A leading think tank has predicted that some parts of England and Wales are going to be hit hard by job cuts over the next few years. If this is the case then problems such as debt and repossession could become rife in the affected areas, with those losing their jobs no longer able to keep on top of financial commitments and mortgage or rent repayments.

The prediction was made by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), which claims that in Wales and in the North of England the unemployment rate will reach 10 percent by 2015, which means that around one in ten people will be jobless, and could end up experiencing difficulty with day to day finances in addition to the added worry of debt repayments, mortgage, and rent.

The blame for the expected increase in unemployment in these areas has been blamed on the recent public sector job cuts, which were announced in the emergency budget in June. However, whilst the public sector cuts have been put into place in a bid to reduce the public deficit they are likely to have a profound effect on jobs, both in the public and the private sectors.

The South of England and London are not expected to be hit as hard by job cuts, but other areas of England and Wales will feel the brunt of the cuts, especially in regions where many depend on the public sector for their jobs and work.

CEBR’s chief executive Douglas McWilliams said: “Those regions which are currently very dependent on the public sector are likely to suffer a lot more as the public sector gets cut. Wales is probably going to be region that’s going to be hit most by this, but also regions like the North West and the West Midlands. In Wales there has been a massive growth in public spending in the last few years, and that’s probably unsustainable.”