WORKING women on Merseyside will be hit hardest by possible cuts in public services, the TUC warned last night.
Almost half the women who are in work on Merseyside – 48% or 137,070 of the total female working population – are employed in public services like the NHS, schools, and caring services. That compares to just 20% of men working for the public sector in the region.
The North West TUC (Trades Union Congress) last night said it was women who will pay the price of looming cuts to the public sector, in a warning to coincide with today’s International Women’s Day.
Lynn Morris, vice-chair of the North West TUC and regional manager for Merseyside with the public services union, Unison, said: “The simple truth is that, if public services are slashed now, as some politicians and pundits are demanding, it will be women who will suffer most.
“It is women’s jobs which are most on the line as a result of this bankers’ recession.”
According to official forecasts, public borrowing will hit a record £178bn this year, although the Government has committed to halve the UK’s structural budget deficit by 2015.
Tough action will be needed if the deficit is to be cut in that timescale.
The North West TUC carried out the survey as part of its campaign to promote public services – Proud to Serve the Public.
The results are based on the latest data from the Office of National Statistics.
Most at risk among the five Merseyside local authority areas are women in Wirral, where public services employ 27,069 women – 50.5% of the total female working population.
Next is Sefton with 24,376 or 49.1%, followed by Knowsley with 13,829 or 49%, Liverpool with 60,095 or 48.7 and St Helens with 11,701 or 41.4%.
