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8,000 jobs under threat
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UP TO 8,000 more public sector jobs could be lost in Sheffield - and even more could be under threat in private contractors and supply companies, according to a new report.
The State of Sheffield 2012 - the first comprehensive report drawing together information from public bodies and businesses - sets out current and future challenges for city leaders.
It says up to 12,000 new private sector jobs could be created at new Enterprise Zones in the area - in Sheffield, Rotherham and north Derbyshire - where companies will have favourable tax rates and relaxed planning rules, but warns of heavy job losses in the public sector.
The city’s large dependence on the public sector for employment - which was responsible for 52 per cent of posts created between 1995 and 2008 - means the local economy is vulnerable as Government budget cuts bite.
The report warns: “The city’s economy still exhibits certain structural weaknesses. Sheffield has a long-standing low level of entrepreneurship and a weak performance in research and development.
“By applying the Government’s Office for Budget Responsibilities’ assumptions, there could be between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs lost in the city by 2014/15.
“These estimates exclude knock-on effects in the private sector through direct contracts and supply chains.”
The study, by Sheffield University academic Gordon Dabinett and Sheffield Council officer Andi Walshaw, reveals Sheffield’s employment rate of 68.3 per cent is below the 72.9 per cent national average.
During the recession, the employment rate did ‘not fall as much as most other major cities’, but growth of new jobs has since been slow.
The number of vacant jobs only increased by 2.6 per cent during 2009/10, compared with 37 per cent in Yorkshire and the Humber as a whole.
The number of long-term unemployed out of work for at least a year increased more than three-fold between 2007 and 2010, from 940 to 3,095, with the proportion of long-term unemployed in the city increasing from 12.3 per cent to 20.4 per cent, well above the England average of 18.3 per cent.
Mr Dabinett said: “Sheffield is a city going through change.
“The report is about looking at how Sheffield has responded to previous challenges and building a new economy.”
The report has pulled together information from the council, Government, health authorities, businesses and other groups.
Its publication comes a week after a report by independent think tank, Centre for Cities, which compared Sheffield with 63 other large towns and cities around the UK.
Richard Wright, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce executive director, said: “There is good news - Sheffield is the number one city in the country for specialist manufacturing and the amount of specialist companies.
“We estimate 12,000 jobs will be created in the new enterprise zones, although these will not only be in Sheffield, but also Rotherham and Markham Vale, north Derbyshire.”
Other positives highlighted in the report include higher levels of graduates staying in Sheffield than in any other major UK city.
n For full details of the report and reaction, see pages 8 and 9.
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Comments
There are 7 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Los Blancos Galactico Rossoneri Mancunian
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:39 PMGreat! More Public Sector jobs going! This is not what Sheffield needs!
Testarossa
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 07:18 PMMuch of the Public Sector is over -staffed, jobs for the boys,,, should be looked upon as natural shedding of jobs, those going will no doubt have a nice severance or pension package and those staying will just have to work up to standard...
iron lady
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 04:40 PMSheffield needs to draw from its strengths now.Capitalise as far as possible on its excellent record for manufacturing.Any budding entrepreneurs out there tap into whatever help is available and make it happen.With its fighting spirit Sheffield can bounce back.
Topodp
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 03:20 PMElsewhere in the country, the estimate of Private sector jobs being created to fill the gap left by Public sector job losses has been woefully inaccurate. The Private sector does not create as many jobs as the public sector looses, any jobs that are created are often for lower pay and worse conditions. A substantial number of the Public sector jobs were for Government organisations such as the DVLA and HMRC, so while some of you may applaud the loss of so-called Public sector jobs, not of those jobs were for the Council.
1graybags
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 02:17 PMSo in Sheffield public sector for employment was responsible for 52 per cent of posts created between 1995 and 2008 !!!! .....................that is ridiculous, the only public sector jobs should be essential ones. I feel sorry for any public sector worker who looses there job, but I feel sorry also for private sector workers who are paying a fortune in tax to cover public sector pay and pensions
Tawny
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:12 AMThis article could equally have been headlined "Up To 12,000 Jobs To Be Created" but of course that would not have got everyone's back up in the same way as this headline. What is needed in these hard ecconomic times is impartial, factual, accurate reporting not this type of rubbish.
Vonny Watts
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:10 AMWhat a shame that the headline is the 8,000 job losses rather than the 12,000 jobs to be created. The city needs positivity at this time and we are an example of how the rebalancing of the economy is working in practice. I think Richard Wright makes some excellent points. We are a superb manufacturing base and we should be proud of that once more. If the local authority can steel itself against its party political bias and instead chase the pot of money available from the Core Cities Initiative, specifically aimed at helping cities like us to thrive again, then we will all benefit. Complaining about the budget cuts is not helping us.
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