This weekend the government’s much praised furlough scheme to help retain jobs and keep businesses alive comes to an end.
It means that for the first time we will start to get a clear picture just how many employees in Gloucestershire have, and will be made redundant as a result of COVID.
That, of course, is the big question: how many jobs will be lost in Gloucestershire?
All we do know with some accuracy is that the total number of workers furloughed in Gloucestershire as at 31st August was 30,700.
I am grateful to Jute Blackmon, GFirst LEP’s analyst for that figure. To obtain clear figures from the Department of Work and Pensions is to say the least difficult.
I would assume that a high percentage of those who have lost their jobs or are about to do so, will sadly be from our county’s hitherto vibrant hospitality sector.
I have said it before in this column and I will say it again.
We need a clear plan from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to help the jobless in Gloucestershire as well as a strong retraining scheme for those older workers displaced.
I hear that the DWP are doubling the mentoring staff in their High Street offices - that is not enough.
I want to see far more working with the further education colleges here in Gloucestershire which have great experience with apprenticeships.
Young people simply must not be allowed to languish without help to get jobs.
Older people who have given most of their working lives to working in manufacturing in Gloucestershire, for instance, must have tailored training available to them.
Not in six months. Now.
One bright spot in the COVID gloom is the number of jobs being advertised in the county - the September figure stood at 18,705 with the following postings:
Stroud - 2,636 (-25.1% on 2019); Cotswolds - 2,273 (-9.8%); Cheltenham – 4,364 (-29.9%); Forest of Dean – 823 (31.9%); Gloucester – 6,513 (-22.6%).
Our councils must do all they can for jobs at this very worrying time.
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