see also Business & Commerce

How Many Jobs???

Jobs Losses as well as Jobs Created

We are told that there are about 700 jobs in Newlyn and that most of these are in the fishing industry. The fishing industry is in a general and irreversible state of decline due to both over fishing and the high cost of boat fuel.

We are told that the various development schemes will create jobs that will offset the fishing-related job losses. This is a sweeping statement that deserves hard facts but we can’t get any. This is because there have not been any official figures released by the developers to back up this claim, and this is hardly surprising as it is a totally unrealistic one. In view of this, we continue to dispute the developers’ assertion of 'jobs galore' for a number of reasons and we continue to challenge them to provide proof.

The developers base their assumptions and aspirations on the Atlantic Consultants' report of 2002. We strongly suspect it was commissioned especially to favour the various development projects with scant regard to either our cultural heritage, or the impact on tourism, and certainly not fishing! Furthermore, it does not appear to have anticipated the reversal in either the national economy nor the housing market, both of which are now considered to be in a precipitous state. To try to continue as though nothing has changed would be akin to pushing a huge snowball uphill - we all know what happens!

The world has changed since 2002 and proposals that were made then are no longer realistic.

In a nutshell, our argument has eight basic points:

1. Recent history has shown us that people working in traditional industries (eg miners, print workers) show considerable resistance when faced with retraining in unrelated jobs.  We cannot assume that proud men who have cherished a sense of identity from working within the fishing industry; supporting our community for centuries, will easily adapt. click here to view a report on this subject entitled 'Adult participation in learning: Can we change the pattern?'
   
2. Many specialist jobs that relate to our local fishing industry (chandlery, boat servicing, net making and repair etc) will be affected in a similar way. There may be a small number of these jobs that may be suited to retraining, but we must stress the word small.
3. Non-skilled and semi-skilled local jobs in the fish processing sector would be under intense competition from itinerant workers if the current businesses were allowed to relocate to a site outside of Newlyn. We emphasise that we do not object to this kind of jobs competition per se, but there would undoubtedly be a local backlash which we would beg caution against creating. In any event, the arrival of itinerant workers has an acknowledged effect of driving down local wage levels.  click here to read a BBC report 'Farm Raided over Migrant Workers', this was in Helston.
   
4. Many of those buying the new properties in the Port Penlee marina complex would be incomers from outside the County who would almost certainly have family members who would compete in the local jobs.
5. Many of those buying the newly-converted harbour-side properties, and their family members, (again, mostly from outside the area) would compete for local jobs likewise – probably to a greater degree than the Port Penlee property buyers.
6. In any event, most jobs within the Port Penlee marina complex are likely to be seasonal and low-paid. The better jobs, such as administration or managerial might well go to those living on-site. This is therefore unlikely to include any existing members of our community.
7. Because this development is totally incongruous with our historic surroundings and culture, there will be an inevitable impact on our existing tourist trade, not only during the extensive construction phase, but forever after. Our community will lose the charm and charisma that has brought visitors to our area for over a hundred years. Many of those visitors will therefore elect to go elsewhere; to areas that have not been despoiled by inappropriate development. Our tourism revenues will suffer.
8. The past history of MDL’s marina development indicate that the major construction jobs are given to specialist contractors – the local workforce is not used.

In summary:

• For every new job created, there is every probability that a newly-arrived member to our community will be competing for it.
• As the development is sure to have an adverse effect on tourism, there will be a sizeable number of job losses in this area.
• Any jobs that would be created are likely to be seasonal and low-paid.
• Overall, as a result of any development, we do not anticipate any substantial change in the number of jobs available to our existing local community. We may even lose jobs overall.