Osborne and the deepening malaise

George Osborne has taken to the pages of the FT this morning, warning that the global economy is in torpor thanks to a ‘serious malaise’ on the part of politicians. His worries are well founded. Growth is anaemic in Britain and flat in France. Today brings news of fresh disasters louring on the horizon. The quarterly employment survey indicates that businesses in the north are preparing to shed jobs.

The economy has been bumbling along, saved from deeper crisis by strong private sector job growth. If businesses downscale, it will increase the pressure on the government over insipid growth. Markets already doubt that Britain has the capacity to rebalance the economy away from financial services and poor employment figures will only intensify the disquiet.

That these losses are due to hit the north is also a concern. The north south divide is burgeoning and the government has put its faith in significant investment in enterprise zones in deprived areas north of the Watford gap. Osborne and Cameron promised to extend the scheme last week. Much depends on this, research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development insists (£) that national recovery will be significantly impaired unless the north reindustrialises.

The current outlook is grim, almost relentlessly so. But there are a few reasons to be cheerful. The number of apprenticeships has increased dramatically over the past year. The Guardian reports that the coalition has exceeded its target of establishing 203,200 training places for people aged 19. In total, 257,000 positions have been created in the last year.  More importantly, there are signs that the scheme may bring the long-term unemployed into work. The number of apprentices aged over 25 has quadrupled to 121,000.

This is a significant victory for the coalition, which has been under pressure over youth unemployment, which is sneaking towards a million according to the ONS. A job does not necessarily follow from an apprenticeship, but the skills learnt will broaden opportunities at least.