One
manufacturing job is lost every two working minutes and only adopting the Euro
can stop the decline, says the GMB union.
Research
produced for the union by the independent Labour Research Department shows that
in 2002, 71,123 jobs were lost in the manufacturing industry.
The
West Midlands was the hardest hit region with 8,512 job losses announced last
year.
February
was the worst month with 8,776 job losses.
The
general secretary of the GMB, John Edmonds, said: "British manufacturing
continues to be in crisis because we remain uncertain about adopting the Euro.
"This
has become a major factor in deterring multinationals from investing in
Britain. While the Euro and the pound remain world’s apart we will continue to
see these job losses despite best efforts.
"The
only way to protect British jobs is to join the Euro as soon as possible and at
a realistic exchange rate. If we don’t we will continue to see the
manufacturing industry plummet."
MONTH
– JOB LOSSES
January
– 7,164
February – 8,776
March – 7,094
April – 5,738
May – 4,024
June – 4,335
July – 7,220
August – 4,580
September – 4,564
October – 7,459
November – 4,901
December – 5,268
Total
— 71,123
REGION
— JOB LOSSES
East
Midlands – 5,517
Eastern – 2,513
London – 54
Merseyside – 2,970
North East – 4,802
North West – 4,366
Northern Ireland – 2,159
Scotland – 7,020
South East – 3,973
South West – 7,570
Wales – 4,578
Midlands – 8,512
Yorkshire and Humberside – 7,954
Rest of UK – 9,135
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Total
– 71,123
