A further  rise in unemployment last month suggests Northern Ireland is still in the grip of a deep recession, which is only set to get worse.

New figures show 56,100 claimed Jobseekers Allowance which represents a rise in 600 compared to May. The claimant count has increased by 13.6% in the past year and is the highest increase in the level of unemployment benefit claimants among the twelve UK regions.  East Belfast, once home to a massive manufacturing sector, has suffered a huge 25.8 per cent rise in unemployment since June 2009. One economist has warned that numbers on the dole queue could treble within two years. 
 
Those who are being dumped out of work will find it very difficult to make ends meat. Benefits in Northern Ireland are pitiful and are set to get worse as the Tories slash the welfare state. Future work prospects are also bleak. Despite talk of public sector jobs being replaced by private sector jobs, staffing levels in the private sector fell back in June for the 28th month in a row. The Ulster Bank reposts than business activity has shrunk, with companies cutting jobs in favour of protecting profits.
 
Northern Ireland is being hit hard by the recession. It is currently experiencing its third successive year of economic decline compared with just one year of contraction in the UK in general. And the recession will only hit harder as the massive public sector cuts are being introduced.
 
It is time workers and workers and Trade Unions got our act together in order to better spread the fightback against this onslaught.