Last Thursday Emma Lewell-Buck held a Jobs Fair at South Tyneside College, as part of her pledge to help tackle unemployment in South Shields.
Over 1,000 jobs were on offer from local employers, with more than 18 local firms running stalls at the event.
Emma said:
“Unemployment is the number one issue for many people in South Shields, and I wanted to use my position as an MP to help address that problem. I’m very pleased with today’s turnout, and grateful for all the cooperation we’ve had from local employers, South Tyneside College and South Tyneside Council. I’m pleased to say that a number of people have walked away from today’s fair with jobs and job offers.
“Of course, I know that it’s impossible to tackle our unemployment crisis overnight, but by building better links between employers, jobseekers and local schools we can make it easier for people to find work.”
One of the local employers on hand was Nissan, who took on 5 full-time employees to start immediately, and enrolled a further 30 onto their pre-job training programme.
A Nissan representative said:
“Today’s Jobs Fair in South Shields has been a great way to bring jobseekers of all ages together with employers from across the region. It’s been a great opportunity for Nissan to advertise vacancies locally, and we have today enrolled 5 people on our Traineeship Evolution scheme.”
One man who Emma spoke to had been without work for six years, and told her about the huge strain this had placed on him and his family. But after Emma took him to see Barbour’s stand at the Jobs Fair, he now expects to be working soon.
At its peak earlier this year, the number of jobseekers under the Coalition stood at nearly 4,500 – over one in nine. Coalition initiatives like the Work Programme have failed to address the problem, with fewer than one in ten people assigned to the problem in the North East finding a job.
The next Labour government will implement a Jobs Guarantee that will offer every person who is unemployed for 24 months a guaranteed six-month work placement paid at the National Minimum Wage or higher. Young people will qualify after just 12 months.
Emma said:
“The work programme has utterly failed to help people in towns like South Shields into work. One provider performed so poorly that they actually got fewer people into work than if they had done nothing. That’s why I wanted to hold today’s Jobs Fair – to put people in touch with work so that they can provide for themselves and their families, something which the Coalition has failed to do.
“But what South Shields really needs is Labour’s Jobs Guarantee, which will help every single long-term unemployed person get the skills and work experience they need to help them into permanent employment. The fair was a huge success and I am pleased that in South Shields we are succeeding where the Government is failing’.