A recent bid for government funding was successful for the Tyne and Wear City Region Partnership. They have been awarded £22m in funding to support the creation of 3,450 new jobs for 18 to 24-year-old, and long-term, unemployed people in the north east.
Suggestions infer that the programme will create 1,052 in the public sector, 1,643 jobs in the community and voluntary sector and 755 private sector posts across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham over the next 18 months
Nissan will produce batteries for its new all-electric battery car at its Tyne and Wear plant in Sunderland.
The batteries will be produced in a new facility adjoining the car plant and producing them will create 350 jobs assembling and testing the battery packs.
Poor demand earlier in 2009 meant that the Sunderland plant to lay off 1,200 (almost 25%) of its employee base. Improved fortunes mean that 250 temporary staff have since been rehired.
A property management assistant from Stockton has become the first person in the North East to secure a job through the government’s recruitment subsidy scheme.
James Taylor (23) now works for Parker Barras in Middlesbrough after the company took advantage of the ‘Golden Hello’ recruitment and training package offered by Jobcentre Plus. Through the ‘Golden Hello’ scheme, which was introduced in April, employers can get up to £2,500 for taking on jobseekers who have been unemployed for six months or more. It is part of a package of measures designed to give more support to people who’ve been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for some time.
Nissan Motor (GB) is to recruit 150 new workers on fixed-term four-month contracts.
From June, the Nissan Motor Sunderland plant will be require the new contract employees.
The new demand for Nissan vehicles has been created by new scrappage schemes across Europe.
Northern England, Wales, the Midlands and Scotland have all suffered the largest rises in unemployment. It is the manufacturing and heavy industry areas that have seen most distress.
Official figures published by research consultancy the Work Foundation showed that Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, Hull, Manchester, Bradford, Kirklees, Liverpool and Bristol were the worst effected areas.
