The
GMB union has published figures for June and July showing the continuing fall
in manufacturing jobs in UK
industry.
It
says 4,511 jobs have been lost across England,
Wales,
Scotland
and Northern
Ireland in
the two-month period.
Commenting
on the figures, GMB general secretary Kevin Curran said: "Close to a
million skilled jobs will soon have vanished since 1997 – a fifth of all jobs
in manufacturing have already gone, equivalent to the entire population of Liverpool.
"Once
manufacturing jobs and skills are lost, they can never be recovered without
massive sustained effort."
The
GMB said it wanted to see increased state aid and intervention to help sustain
growth, as well as a level playing field for procurement.
Curran
also attacked CBI director-general Digby Jones.
"Lately there has been a lot of misinformation about manufacturing, much
of it spilling from the mouth of Digby Jones,"
he said.
"Earlier
this month, Jones was claiming that thousands of job losses in manufacturing
were somehow evidence of recovery. The 4,511 people who lost jobs and
livelihoods in June and July would disagree.
"We
say it’s time for business leaders and trade ministers to stop saying ‘crisis –
what crisis?’," he added.
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