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Build roads to cut jobless total BRF
Page 6
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UNEMPLOYMENT in the road construction industry now amounts to three per cent of the total of all unemployed in Britain, according to British Roads Federation director Robert Phillipson.
Introducing what is claimed to be the first-ever study into. the subject, Mr Phillipson said this week that almost 45,000 jobs have already disappeared, and another 22,000 could go in the near future.
He blamed a combination of nine planned cuts in road spending over the last five years and the Government's failure to ensure that limited funds devoted to road building were spent.
He said: "The survey shows that from 1973 to 1978, road spending declined by 30 per cent. Employment has fallen by a smaller amount — 21 per cent. Productivity has worsened and there has been unprofitable underemployment in an attempt to safeguard some jobs."
He said that neither public nor private employers would allow this to continue for much longer, and suggested that 22,000 jobs would need to go if productivity is to return to the levels of the early 1970s.
Referring to controversy last week over Government spending on job-saving projects, Mr Phillipson said: "Seven projects, mostly in shipbuilding and aviation, set up by the Government, may involve the country in losses of £800m.
"At the same time, the substantial sum of money voted by Parliament for roads is not being spent, and this alone has caused shedding of well over 10,000 jobs. The average annual underspend in the roads budget for the past three years is £100m, a huge shortfall."
He suggested that there was more justification for new road construction than for spending large sums in other areas.