It’s a sobering thought that austerity measures will be around until at least 2020. What does that say to young people at the start of their working lives? For the nine million people in the UK who live below the breadline, the festivities of the next few weeks will be a test of survival rather than a season of celebration. Times are hard. Whilst reports of an economic recovery are welcome, unemployment remains a massive issue, especially amongst the young.
Indeed, the Government’s plans for further public sector cuts in 2015 means the ghost of Christmas future looms large for many. Eight government departments including the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Northern Ireland Office are all to make cuts of between 8% and 10% in 2015-16. This is going to hurt.
Successive governments have moved public sector jobs to more depressed regions, not exclusively in the North, but the knock-on effect of these cuts in the region is not to be underestimated.
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Archbishop John Sentamu–Hope and Hard Times
It’s a sobering thought that austerity measures will be around until at least 2020. What does that say to young people at the start of their working lives? For the nine million people in the UK who live below the breadline, the festivities of the next few weeks will be a test of survival rather than a season of celebration. Times are hard. Whilst reports of an economic recovery are welcome, unemployment remains a massive issue, especially amongst the young.
Indeed, the Government’s plans for further public sector cuts in 2015 means the ghost of Christmas future looms large for many. Eight government departments including the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Northern Ireland Office are all to make cuts of between 8% and 10% in 2015-16. This is going to hurt.
Successive governments have moved public sector jobs to more depressed regions, not exclusively in the North, but the knock-on effect of these cuts in the region is not to be underestimated.
Read it all.