St Helens has seen a four percentage point increase in unemployment in nine months ST HELENS saw a four percentage point increase in claimants for unemployment in nine months during last year as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic hit. A newly published report has said unemployment in former coalfield and industrial towns is above the levels experienced 10 years ago in the wake of the financial crisis, with the possibility of further redundancies into the spring. The new report was commissioned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Industrial Communities Alliance from researchers at Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.
Updated
Tuesday, 26th January 2021, 8:06 pm
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Industrial Communities Alliance commissioned a report from Sheffield Hallam University on the impact of Covid on local economies, labour markets and public health.
Trust chair Peter McNestry said: “Once again, we are left to try to pick up the pieces as our communities are hit by another crisis. After the losses of industry throughout the coalfields, then ten years of Government austerity, the effect of the pandemic cannot be ignored.
“This report provides the evidence in black and white that more needs to be done if our residents are ever to have a chance of moving forward.”
Peter McNestry
Unemployment in older industrial Britain is now above the levels experienced ten years ago in the wake of the financial crisis, and there is the possibility of further redundancies into the spring, the report says.
The pandemic has wiped out ten years of progress in industrial towns, the main regional cities and former coalfield communities, such as those located within Wakefield.
That is according to the Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on Older Industrial Britain’ report, commissioned by the Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA) and Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and compiled by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.