RECENTLY released figures suggest that Conwy County has one of the strongest job markets in Wales.
Statistics from the National Office of Statistics show that there are just over three people going for every job in the county.
Conwy’s figures are below the average ratio for the whole of North Wales of nearly six people to every job, with more than 14,000 people for more than 2,550 advertised vacancies.
The most difficult job market was in Anglesey, with 13 people to each job. In Denbighshire, about six people are applying for each post, meaning that jobseekers in Conwy are twice as likely as their neighbours to find employment.
Mr Guto Bebb, MP for Aberconwy, said that Conwy had suffered less from recent government cuts, as the county had a comparatively low ratio of public sector workers.
Mr Bebb said: “Our cuts are not devastating - they’re manageable. We need to give businesses the confidence to invest, and that can only happen once we’ve lowered the interest rates.
“For the past fifteen years there has been the expectation that it would be the public sector which created jobs, and in places such as Denbighshire 46 per cent of workers are working in the public sector.”
He added that Wales had a culture of relying on the public sector to create jobs, and that the government’s cuts would bolster the confidence of the private sector to take on more workers.
Gareth Jones, Plaid Cymru AM for Aberconwy, said: “The people of Wales are not workshy. There is an appetite for work in Wales and we must make sure we capitalise on the opportunities here within Wales, and draw on ideas and business elsewhere, to create a growing and stable economy.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said that Jobcentre Plus, the government jobseeking service, was committed to helping people in to work.
She said: “We currently have around 550 jobs advertised in Conwy."
Currently 2,241 Conwy jobseekers are competing for these openings.