Unemplyment in Northern Ireland

By Goretti Horgan in Derry

In the first two weeks of January alone, over 5,000 people signed on the dole in the North. More than 8,000 jobs have already been lost or are under threat in construction sector. Hundreds of jobs have also been lost in the manufacturing sector.

This is on top of redundancies at Ulster Bank, Woolworth's, Zavvi, Adams , Marks and Spencers and other high street retailers.

Job losses have been happening so quickly, the dole offices are overwhelmed; 150 new staff are being recruited to the Social Security Agency to deal with these extra benefit claimants.

Meanwhile, Belfast has been picked out by an independent research consultancy as being at high risk of suffering further extensive job losses in 2009.

Centre for Cities released a new report in January that reveals the UK cities most exposed to recession. The report pointed out that nearly a quarter of Belfast's working population have no formal qualifications - making recovery more difficult.

Many of these newly redundant workers will be shocked at the low level of benefits in the North – about a third of those in the South. A single person, over 25 years old, receives £60.50 per week dropping to £47.95 for those under 25 years old.

The UK is near the bottom of the Western European league table in comparative rates of unemployment benefit. As a result, the TUC has called for urgently raising Job Seekers Allowance by £15 per week.

Most of the companies laying off workers are making very healthy profits.

Johnson Press, which owns 320 newspapers, posted a 4.6% fall in profits in 2007 but still made a £178.1m profit. Its chief executive Tim Bowdler received more than £1m that year. The company now wants to cut 31 jobs. Why should journalists and other staff who are taking home a few pounds above the minimum wage have to lose their jobs altogether?

The Ulster Bank made profits of £378m in the first six months of 2008 and its workers are expected to pay for the mess that Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns it, has made gambling on the sub-prime market?

The money is there to keep workers in their jobs and to keep pay at the rate it is now. The bosses will try to keep their profits by making workers’ lives a misery. So, the only question is whether workers will be forced onto the dole or whether they fight to save the jobs and wages they can.