Job Insecurity (Hansard, 13 November 1996)

§ 10. Mr. Winnick
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to introduce measures to reduce job insecurity. [2079]

§ Mr. Forth
The best protection against job insecurity is sustained economic growth and increased competitiveness. We will continue the policies that have resulted in the economy growing for more than three 348 years, unemployment falling by more than 908,000 since the recovery began and the number of jobs rising by more than 210,000 in the past year.

§ Mr. Winnick
Is it not a commentary on this wretched Government that, since the Prime Minister was appointed just six years ago, nearly 11 million people have experienced some form of unemployment and, moreover, that there are 1 million fewer jobs in the economy than in 1990? Therefore, is it not justified that the next round of job losses will be those of quite a few Tory Members of Parliament?

§ Mr. Forth
Labour Members are so desperate about the regular and persistent fall in unemployment that they have to scratch around for such odd figures. If 300,000 people enter and leave the job register every month, as they do now and as they have for many years, of course we can identify many people who, from time to time, will both have lost jobs and, happily, gained jobs. Statistics show that, for men and women, average job tenure is little different from that 10 years ago, so the myth that Labour Members feel obliged to peddle about job insecurity is simply their desperate response to the heartening and continuing fall in unemployment.

§ Mr. John Marshall
Will my hon. Friend confirm that, since 1992, there has been a drop of some 750,000 in the number of people unemployed? Will he compare that drop with the increases in unemployment in Germany, France and other countries that follow the policies peddled by the Labour party? Does he agree that the greatest threat to job security is the introduction of a national minimum wage and the social chapter, which Labour would introduce?

§ Mr. Forth
Indeed. It must be one of the great puzzles of today's political scene that the Labour party espouses and seems to find attractive all the policies that emanate from continental Europe—and have failed almost every country in continental Europe. If Labour Members cared as much as they claim to about jobs and employment, would they not doubt that, if they introduced the social chapter and the minimum wage, the risk would be, that unemployment here would rise to the level in countries that are pursuing those policies? It is not a risk that I would want to take.

§ Mr. Hain
The millions of people who are trapped in job insecurity are certainly not pathetically grateful to the Government. Indeed, they will give them a real caning at the next general election. The Minister says that job insecurity is a myth. Is he aware that Government figures show that more than half the people who leave a job for the dole are out of work again in under a year? The new Tory world of work is insecure, short term, temporary and casual. Is he also aware that, instead of indulging in playground politics in Europe, people want him to tackle insecurity at home?

§ Mr. Forth
On behalf of many of my hon. Friends, may I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the caning tendency? I am sure that he will be a most welcome addition.
It simply will not do for Labour Members to think that, if they keep talking about job insecurity frequently enough, they will somehow increase the feeling of 349 insecurity outside the House. It is dishonest for politicians to try to scare the electorate with repeated talk about such things as job insecurity. The figures that I have given do not support such talk. I hope that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues will look more seriously at their own policies, because if anything will increase job insecurity in the future, it is Labour party policy.