IS THERE REALLY ANY UNEMPLOYMENT IN THANET ?
Many people refer to Thanet as an unemployment blackspot. They claim that Thanet has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. Thanet District Council does everything to promote this view and nothing to counter it. In this sense TDC talks the area down and discourages companies form relocating. In fact, Thanet is doing rather well, and the statistics prove it. Of course, TDC will not admit this fact. The business parks remain deserted and the airport employs far less people than it did when the RAF were there. In other words, none of the Council’s strategies for reducing unemployment have worked. The reductions have been achieved by the hard work and determination of small businesses all over Thanet. In many cases these businesses will confirm that they have been hindered rather than helped by the Council.
Graph 1 shows the reduction in the number of claimants of unemployment benefit in the parliamentary constituencies of North and South Thanet over the last two years :
Graph 1
As you can see, the number of claimants in North Thanet has fallen from a high of 2577 in April 1999 to 1818 in August 2001. Over the same period the number of claimants in South Thanet has fallen from 2176 to 1355. The small rises seen in the Winter months may be attributable to the loss of seasonal employment. However, taking these into account, it can be seen that the rate of decline is steady and does not appear to be slowing down at all.
It is fairly obvious that if this trend continues, any unemployment problem that Thanet is still perceived to have will have disappeared in the next two years. This is an important observation. The Draft Local Plan produced by Thanet District Council is due to take effect in two years time. One of the key objectives of this plan is a reduction in Thanet’s rate of unemployment. The plan contains many policies intended to achieve this objective. We must now question whether the unemployment ‘problem’ is going to exist and whether the policies being put forward are appropriate if there is not a real unemployment problem.
Graphs 2 shows how unemployment levels in the parliamentary constituencies of North and South Thanet rank against other 656 parliamentary constituencies in the UK. The constituency with the highest level of unemployment in the UK is ranked number 1 and the constituency with the lowest level is ranked 656 :
Graph 2
From Graph 1 we could see that the rate of unemployment in Thanet is in decline. From Graph 2, it is clear that both North and South Thanet are improving their position in comparison to other parliamentary constituencies in the UK. In April 1999 North Thanet was ranked the 138th in the UK. In August 2001 North Thanet was ranked at 179. In South Thanet the change is even more dramatic. In April 1999 South Thanet was ranked 195th in the UK. In August 2001 it had improved to 262. Furthermore, it is clear that the rate at which both Thanet constituencies are moving up the rankings is increasing. In other words, Thanet is now improving relative to other UK constituencies faster than at any point in the last two years. The improvement in South Thanet is particularly striking.
These changes cannot be ignored. The reasons for the changes must be made public. If the Council’s policies for reducing unemployment have failed we are forced to conclude that unemployment has fallen, not because of but despite, the Council. Finally, we must consider what role a local Council should be playing in reducing unemployment. There is a good argument for saying that local Councils should ensure that pavements and street-lamps are fixed. They shouldn’t be concerning themselves with unemployment, and economic development over which, in reality, they have little influence. In the case of Thanet we must question whether the local plan for the next ten years should be almost entirely driven by issues of unemployment and low pay.