Jobs data no cause for panic, says Hain

by Tomos Livingstone - 16/11/2009

"A RISE in the Welsh jobless figures is “not a cause for panic”, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said last night."

Earlier this week data released by the Office for National Statistics showed 125,000 people were out of work, a rise of 14,000.

The UK total rose by only 30,000 in the third quarter of this year, with some parts of Britain seeing falls in unemployment.

Mr Hain said the totals were still lower than they were during previous recessions. “I think that just as we were doing better early in the recession, the fact that we are doing temporarily worse is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” he said.

“The number of people in jobs in Wales is 95,000 more than in 1997. Economic inactivity has fallen by 8,000, and is lower than it was in 1997.

“So we’ve seen, yes, a worrying rise in unemployment but nowhere near what it was in the past, and at the same time 95,000 more jobs than there were.”

More Details: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/11/13/jobs-data-no-cause-for-panic-says-hain-91466-25157394/