The WLGA today warned of the knock-on effects that public sector jobs cuts could have on the Welsh economy and highlighted the difficult decisions councils will have to take on workforce costs to maintain jobs and services as far as possible.
Cllr. John Davies (Pembrokeshire), WLGA Leader said:
‘With public sector revenue and capital budgets set to plummet over the next four years, the impact on jobs could be devastating. Forecasts suggest there will be 490,000 public sector job losses UK wide by 2014-15 with up to 600,000 by 2015-16.”
“However, the impact of this on Wales is likely to be disproportionally worse as 27.5% (344,000 people) of the working population in Wales is employed by the public sector, compared to the UK average of 21.2%. 182,000 of those are employed by local councils, many in areas where the council is the only major employer.”
“There is a great deal of debate regarding the private sector’s ability to step in to the breach and offer redundant public sector workers alternative employment. What we do know is that we will struggle with this in Wales, particularly with so many of our private sector businesses dependent on public sector contracts.”
“Wales is no stranger to the crippling effect of long term unemployment on our communities. Increased unemployment will not only affect the quality of life for individuals and families, but can also damage the fabric of our society, undermining the local and national economy through lost spending power and tax revenue and inflicting increased costs from higher welfare bills, greater demands on the NHS and more pressure on social services.”
Cllr. Gordon Kemp (Vale of Glamorgan), WLGA Employment Spokesperson added:
“Councils have a key role in promoting the well-being of their communities. They are therefore all urgently examining their options to ensure that jobs and services are maintained as far as possible and their areas are protected from the full force of the cuts. However, budget shortfalls will run into many millions and with workforce costs accounting for over 50% of council spending, employee terms and conditions cannot be exempt from the need to make savings. Of course, making the necessary changes is a difficult process for all those involved, however, what needs to be understood is that maintaining the best possible terms and conditions would be at the expense of both services and people’s jobs.”
“All councils across Wales are affected by these issues and attempts to paint them as uncaring employers are not only inaccurate, they also do nothing to help solve the current financial crisis. We firmly believe that that both council tax payers and employees would endorse a strategy to maximise employment and avoid job losses and we would urge trades unions and other stakeholders to support and assist local councils with the hard decisions they have to take.”
