PUBLIC SECTOR JOB LOSSES MUCH BIGGER THAN EXPECTED

So the economy shrank by 0.6% over winter, after it was forecast to grow.

The decline was blamed on the very cold weather (which was not forecast by the corrupted Meteorological Office).

But perhaps it was due to the reduction in public sector employment, which has also shrank but by a much much larger rate than was forecast.

The COCCs must go.

We must take back the power to create non-existent money out of nothing and get the kingdom back to work, building infrastructure instead of killing sick old people.

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From http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/16/public-sector-job-losses


Public sector workers being laid off far faster than officially predicted

More than 100,000 jobs lost in 2010 as Labour accuses Office for Budget Responsibility of getting its forecasts wrong

Heather Stewart and Polly Curtis
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 20.13 GMT



Public sector workers are being laid off much faster than officials forecast, with more than 100,000 jobs being lost over the past 12 months.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a decline of 111,000 in "general government" workers, 1.9% of the total, during 2010; 66,000 of the jobs were in local government.

In its forecast with the budget last June, George Osborne's Office for Budget Responsibility predicted a decline of 0.1%, equivalent to 5,500 jobs, in general government employment between the financial years of 2009-10 and 2010-11.

In its revised November estimates, the OBR shifted its estimate of the number of government employees in 2010-11 down by a further 40,000; but yesterday's 111,000 figure means job losses are running twice as fast as it expected.

Liam Byrne, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "If the OBR has underestimated the rise in public sector unemployment, then that makes the outlook for jobs even worse."

On the ONS's wider measure of public sector employment, which includes public sector corporations, the government's austerity drive claimed 132,000 public sector jobs in 2010, with the rate of job losses gathering pace through the year.

Some 45,000 public sector jobs were lost in the final three months of 2010 alone, including 32,000 in schools and colleges, despite the promise to protect education. There was also a surprise rise of 9,000 jobs in "public administration", raising a question about whether the government is finding true efficiencies.

The decline in public sector jobs overall is partly attributed to the government's recruitment freeze, but the pace suggests cuts are already translating into job losses. It is now known that, overall, 170,000 local government workers have got "at risk" notices, which will take some months to translate into redundancies.

The ONS figures show the total of unemployed people increased by 27,000 in the three months to January to reach 2.53m, the highest figure since 1994.

Ministers said the figures show that the private sector is picking up staff and offsetting some of the public sector redundancies, citing a 77,000 rise in jobs from non-state employers in the final three months of 2010.

The figures also show a 45,000 fall in public sector jobs between October and November 2010. In 2010 there was a 132,000 reduction in public sector employment, a decrease of 2.1%. Of those laid off in the last quarter of 2010, 9,000 were in central government, 24,000 in local government, and 12,000 in quangos and other public corporations. Regions with the biggest falls in public sector jobs were: Yorkshire and Humber (22,000); the north-west (19,000); and the south-west (18,000). In Whitehall the largest losses were in the Department for Work and Pensions (1,670), the Home Office (1,190), and Revenue & Customs (640).

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "These job losses are a mark of things to come. Where is the protection for frontline services the prime minister promised?"

The Cabinet Office welcomed the figures as showing that efficiencies are being found across the public sector.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011