The
jobs market has improved in terms of numbers and quality under the Labour
government according to a report from the TUC.
Released
today, ‘Things have got better’ claims more jobs and better jobs were created
in the five years since 1997 compared to the previous five years.
The
report says long-term unemployment fell steeply, and excluded workers have been
brought back into work.
The
TUC said workers are also better off as wages have grown faster since 1997 and
the gap between public and private sector pay has closed significantly.
The
report contradicts the warnings that Labour’s welfare and employee rights
policies would lead to job losses by showing that the labour market in the five
years since 1997 out-performed the previous five years on almost all measures.
TUC
general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The scare-mongerers were wrong
about new employee protections and welfare reform costing jobs. We are now
closer to full employment than at any other point in the last 25 years. Things
have got better under Labour.
"The
challenges ahead are kick-starting the manufacturing sector and closing the
gaps in wages between men and women and the high and low paid."
‘Things
have got better’ – the facts:
–
Between 1992 and 1997 740,000 more jobs were created. Between 1997 and 2002
that figure had risen to 1,290,000 – a rise of 74 per cent
–
Most of the jobs created between 1992 and 1997 were temporary and part-time,
whereas the jobs created since 1997 have been permanent, with nearly two-thirds
of them full time posts
–
Since 1997 there has been a sharp fall in the number of people taking temporary
and part-time work because they could not find permanent work
–
Unemployment has fallen significantly since 1997, from 7.2 per cent to 5.1 per
cent in Spring 2002. The actual number unemployed fell by just over 500,000 or
nearly 26 per cent.
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