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Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is launching a radical campaign across the UK to stop the fallout from the coronavirus that triggers massive unemployment.
Amid warnings that the total jobless could rise from less than 1.4 million to as high as 4.1 million by the end of the year, the Labor stalwart leads a new national jobs coalition.
The Alliance for Full Employment is supported by the Mayors of London, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle and Bristol, as well as Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford and Scottish Labor leaders.
Unions are preparing to adhere to a list of demands that include: the Bank of England’s legal obligation to promote jobs; the launch of apprenticeships and authentic training of young people; extend the license scheme; and take public shares to save companies in difficulty but viable.
Brown writes in tomorrow’s Daily Mirror: “Action is urgent because six months of warnings about the looming jobs crisis have fallen on deaf ears.”
Brown, who was the longest-serving modern chancellor, warns that Tory’s plans to end the licensing scheme on Halloween will unleash horror.
And he urges Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to copy Germany and France, who are committed to subsidizing work affected by the virus for two more years.
Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, said the move would demonstrate the value of communities coming together.
Jarvis, also a Labor MP for Barnsley Central, said: “In the midst of the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, it is essential that we build a just recovery, helping us create a stronger, greener and fairer Britain and, above all, Everything, avoid the devastating specter of large-scale unemployment.
“There are few better areas for us to demonstrate the solidarity between the nations and regions of the UK and the potential for collaboration between them.”
The transport union TSSA is the first to back the new campaign. Secretary General Manuel Cortes said: “The primary priority of our movement must be full employment in the wake of the economic crisis.
“Our union is delighted to join Gordon Brown and others in championing the need for urgent state intervention to save and create jobs. Full employment is an idea whose time has come ”.
The fragile UK economy, dominated by services, took one of the worst hits in the world.
Overall, 9.6 million workers have received wages paid by the state through licenses, at a cost of £ 35 billion.
Small businesses are more likely to add staff to the plan. Now that you are ready to finish, experts from home and abroad are sounding the alarms.
And our official fiscal regulator, the Office of Budgetary Responsibility, projected the nightmare scenario of unemployment spiraling up to 4.1 million by the end of the year.
The dire prospect included 1.3 million going directly from leave to unemployment.
And unemployment in a second virus wave could reach 14.8%, about one in seven, according to the wealthy 35-nation OECD club based in Paris.
That would be higher than France, Germany and Italy.
The Mirror calls on the government to take steps to protect jobs and keep the country running to soften the blow of the coronavirus recession.
Our campaign demands:
- Extend the licensing scheme beyond the end of October for the most affected sectors and those areas placed in local blockade.
- A fully funded youth guarantee scheme that provides all youth under the age of 25 the opportunity for a job, training or education.
- Boost the provision of childcare so that parents of young children can return to work.
- Invest in skilled and well-paying green jobs in all parts of the country.
The current UK official rate is around 4% and, if a second wave is avoided, the OECD predicts that the total unemployed will continue to reach 11.7% by the end of the year, the highest since a high of 11 , 9% in 1984.
Even a more optimistic Bank of England forecast warned that unemployment could hit 2.5 million, or 7.5%, by the end of 2020.
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