This morning’s Wales on Sunday gives details of the impact that the squeeze on public spending is having on local Councils.
Roughly 80% of a Council’s income comes from central government grants so it is inevitable that they will feel the pain when money is tight. According to Steve Thomas, the chief executive of the Welsh Local Government Association, estimated council job losses will be between 2,000 and 4,000 out of Wales’ 163,000-strong local authority workforce this year.
The paper says: That is the equivalent to the loss of five factories the size of South Wales’ Bosch plant which closes next year.
Experts predict today’s young adults will be the biggest victims of the staff cull as job opportunities in areas with little private-sector employment are lost.
Restaurants, shops and other businesses could also be hit as fewer customers will have cash to spend.
Contractors like building firms will also face a shortage of lucrative council contracts while authorities slash their capital spending.
Senior council staff say this year’s public sector jobs bloodbath is just the start of up to seven years in which local authorities will shed staff while the UK Government battles with Britain’s £700bn debt mountain – currently growing at £90bn every year.
At least one Welsh council is preparing for the possibility of losing up to 15% of its workforce over the next seven years.
As if to add to the misery Dylan Jones-Evans, who as well as being a Tory activist and blogger is a professor at Bangor University, said the council job losses are coming at the same time as Wales’ universities will shed up to 1,500 staff.
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