Brighter Future For Unemployed?
The latest jobless figures show that with 2,523 people unemployed and claiming Job Seekers Allowance, Pembrokeshire has an unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent which remains below the Welsh (4.3 per cent) and Great Britain (4.1 per cent) averages.
As is normally the case there was a slight increase in the numbers claiming unemployment benefits in December, 2009, but the increase over recent months was not as high as is usually seen.
The Deputy Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economic Development and Regeneration, Councillor John Allen-Mirehouse, said that while he was saddened to see that so many people were out of work at Christmas, he was heartened that the county still had the seventh lowest rate of unemployment in Wales.
He went on: "The efforts and hard work that the County Council has ploughed into improving the economy of Pembrokeshire appears to be paying off.
"Not so many years ago, Pembrokeshire had one of the highest rates of unemployment in Wales and indeed in Great Britain. We now have far more people in work and there is evidence that average wages have increased and are approaching the Welsh average.
"With work now well underway on Wetherspoons and Marks & Spencer in Haverfordwest and the new power station near Pembroke, we will see more jobs being created as the year progresses."
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written by owain pendwr, 28, January, 2010
Unemployment figures are barely relevant since the benefit system was altered to hide the truth.
People with children only need to work a few hours to be eligible for Working tax credits. That then means that employers can hold down wages to a minimum for part time staff.
The truth is that poverty is on the increase. I don't know the figure for Pembrokeshire but in Wales the official figure for children living in extreme poverty is 96,000.
I know for a fact that Pembrokeshire has more than it's fair share of poverty because I am not visually impaired, unlike some who have selective blindness.
I can see that there are people in Pembrokeshire who are prosperous, but the gulf between them and the 'Have Nots' grows wider every day.
All improvement in job prospects is, therefore, solely the councils doing according to this article?
Talk about parochial back slapping!