PCommenting on today’s unemployment statistics, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Reading West, Victoria Groulef said ““today’s fall in overall unemployment is of course welcome but we have to look behind the statistics. In fact the number of people unemployed for more than 2 years in the Reading West area has again increased and I also know that many people are taking on part time work because a full time job is not available. We also know that prices are still rising more than twice as fast as wages, which means working people are over £1,600 a year worse off on average. Many people are still struggling to make ends meet.“
Victoria continued ”Labour would act to tackle high levels of long-term unemployment with a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to get people back to work and a Basic Skills Test to ensure everyone claiming jobseekers allowance has the basic English, Maths and IT skills they need to find a job. Our Compulsory Jobs Guarantee and our Basic Skills Test will help get people back to work and help us to earn our way out of the cost-of-living crisis.”
