Comment on labour market statistics: scale up support needed to tackle unemployment

Nigel Mills, Chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, which represents more than 300 high-growth, North East businesses, with a combined turnover in excess of £2.3 billion and more than 23,000 employees, said: “Today’s unemployment figures paint a blurred picture for the North East. While more people are in work than this time last year, the increase in unemployment on last month goes against the national trend, demonstrating the need for more support for Scale-Up businesses. All net employment growth comes from businesses scaling up, so the most effective way of tackling unemployment is for businesses, local authorities and Government to work together to tackle the issues that stop companies from growing and creating more jobs.”