Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 16 January 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:51, 16 January 2019

No. In all fairness to the former First Minister, he was quoting factually the unemployment statistic at the time, and what is absolutely clear is that Wales now has record low unemployment, record low economic inactivity rates, record high employment rates, and that we are also seeing—. It is often assumed that economic activity and employment are confined, mostly, to the more urbanised areas, but actually, if you look at rural areas—you'll find, across Wales, in rural communities, employment rates higher and unemployment rates lower than the Welsh average. In parts of Wales—if you take north Wales for example—you'll find that not only is the unemployment rate there below the Welsh average and at a historic low level—in fact, the lowest level since records began—the unemployment rate there is also below the UK average.

I think there's a huge success story that should be told about the ability of the Welsh Government to drive down unemployment, and all of the facts, all of the evidence bears that statement out. Since devolution, Wales has had the fourth highest increase in gross value added, unemployment has fallen dramatically, inactivity rates have fallen dramatically. But what concerns me today, right now, is that set against a backdrop of record high employment and record low unemployment, we still need to ensure that jobs are more secure, we still need to ensure that jobs are better paid, and we still need to ensure that people have higher levels of skills in order to get better quality jobs.