One in four households in West Dunbartonshire is out of work – with the council leader expressing fears that the situation is “far worse”.
Statistics reported at a council meeting last week show 24.1 percent of households in the area are workless.
Council leader Jonathan McColl said he expected this figure to now be worse given they don’t include the period spent in lockdown, when a number of businesses across the area closed their doors.
He said: “It’s a significant worry and I imagine the figure is actually far worse than what is being reported as the figures are from year end and do not take the full effect of the lockdown.”
The SNP leader commented in response to questions from Conservative councillor Sally Page who described the stats as “alarming”.
The information was contained in a council performance report, which shows the local authority has fallen behind on its target of bringing this figure to 22 percent.
The Gartocharn councillor said: “The percentage of households that are workless now sits at 24.1 per cent.
“It’s incumbment all of us look at this long and hard.
“It’s not easy during a pandemic to create jobs in West Dunbartonshire.
“It’s quite an alarming statistic and doesn’t bode well for up and coming generations.”
In response Lomond ward councillor McColl called on her to lobby her party at Westminster for more money.
He said: “What we are getting back from the UK Government is not enough to protect jobs.
“I would encourage anything Sally Page can do as a local Conservative councillor in terms of lobbying through her political contacts to get the message through that we need something better.
“The announcement from Rishi Sunak is welcome but it’s not nearly enough.
“I would be lobbying for a full reinstatement of the furlough scheme and better support for those who are self employed.”
Councillor Page retorted back: “I wish I did have some influence over Westminster Government but I’m afraid I don’t think I do.
“But Kate Forbes told the Scottish Parliament that there’s £500million sitting in Edinburgh unallocated so I would encourage Councillor McColl to go to Holyrood and ask for a share of that.”
In the report, the council said it was addressing unemployment through Working 4U, which has developed an ‘employability pipeline’ to support people to move from unemployment to sustained employment.
The report measured the council’s performance over the past year in 40 different areas, with performance dropping by 12 percent compared to 2018/19.
Another of the indicators at red alert is fuel poverty, with 28 per cent of West Dunbartonshire households in fuel poverty, against a target of 24 percent.
