AS MANY as 36 men and women on the dole’ are chasing every job that’s vacant in East London, shock figures reveal this week. That’s treble the London average of 13 for every vacancy, with Hackney being the worst spot of all for job hunting

By Mike Brooke

AS MANY as 36 men and women on the dole’ are chasing every job that’s vacant in East London, shock figures reveal this week.

That’s treble the London average of 13 for every vacancy, with Hackney being the worst spot of all for job hunting.

Now the TUC is calling for drastic Government action to subsidise wages and increase the Jobseekers’ allowance.

Hackney has 36 without jobs for every vacancy at the Jobcentre. Even affluent areas of East London like Ilford & Redbridge are badly hit, with a ratio of 28-to-one, more than double the London average.

STINGY BENEFITS’

“The Government can no longer claim there is plenty of work’ when there are so many dole claimants for each vacancy,” said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber.

“It must now tackle unemployment and the poverty caused by a stingy redundancy and benefits regime designed for a previous age of plentiful jobs and economic growth.”

Unemployment in Britain is expected to hit two million this week, the TUC points out, so the Government should recognise “a national emergency and provide help to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”

SHOCK LEAGUE TABLE

Hackney’s jobseekers chasing just a handful of vacancies means the 36-to-one ratio is the worst in London, as listed bellow:

Hackney: 7,350 jobless (200 vacancies), ratio of 36

Redbridge: 5,518 (196), 28

Waltham Forest: 6,747 (452), 14

Tower Hamlets: 8,645 (664), 13

Havering: 3,993 (287) 13

Newham: 7,998 (686) 11

Barking & Dagenham: 4,705 (420), 11

By contrast, the neighbouring City of London with 82 out of work has 170 vacancies. The Square Mile is the only part of London with a zero’ ratio of jobless-to-vacancies.