20,400 jobs in Wales at direct risk from government inaction on reaching net zero

• Thousands of additional supply chain jobs at risk too, according to Wales TUC analysis published as Britain prepares to host UN Climate Conference
• “Clock is ticking” on action needed to safeguard key industries as UK falls behind other nations, says Wales TUC
• TUC Congress 2021 debates motions at 2pm today on climate emergency and decarbonising UK steel

The TUC has today (Sunday) warned that at least 20,400 jobs in Wales could be at risk if the UK fails to transition to net zero as fast as other nations.

The analysis identifies jobs that, unless government acts now, could be moved offshore to countries that offer superior green infrastructure and greater support for decarbonising industry.

The loss of those jobs would then put thousands more jobs at risk in supply chains for the affected industries.

Across Great Britain, the analysis finds that there are:

• 259,700 jobs at direct risk in manufacturing sectors
• 407,100 supply chain jobs at secondary risk across the UK economy

An accurate breakdown to national and regional level of jobs at risk in supply chains is not possible because of the complex distribution of supply chain work. However, there are typically 1.5 supply chain jobs at risk for each direct job at risk.

Job risk by manufacturing sector

Broken down by sector, the jobs at direct risk across Great Britain include:

• 26,900 jobs in iron and steel
• 41,000 jobs in glass and ceramics
• 63,200 jobs in chemicals
• 18,000 jobs in textiles
• 79,000 jobs in rubber and plastics
• 15,500 jobs in paper, pulp and printing
• 7,800 jobs in refineries
• 7,400 jobs in wood products
• 900 jobs in cement and lime

Falling behind other countries

Research published by the TUC in June found that the UK is second last among G7 economies for its investment in green infrastructure and jobs.

While the UK Treasury is barely investing £180 per person on green recovery and jobs over the next decade, President Biden plans to allocate over £2,960 per person on green recovery, jobs and programmes like public transport, electric vehicles and energy efficiency retrofits.

Scaled by population, the UK’s green recovery investment is just a quarter (24%) of France, a fifth (21%) of Canada, and 6% of the USA.

Action needed to save jobs

The TUC is calling on the UK Government to action the recommendations of the Green Jobs Taskforce in full, and for an £85 billion green recovery package to create 1.24 million green jobs.

Wales TUC research has found that a £6bn investment in a range of green infrastructure investments could create 59,000 Welsh jobs in the next 2 years.

In addition, the TUC has repeated its calls for a permanent short-time working scheme to help protect working people through periods of future industrial change.

It would make a crucial difference by acting as a bridge for workers in jobs and industries under threat from offshoring during the global transition to net zero.

The union body says such a scheme would give UK workers similar protection to workers in 23 OECD countries that already have this type of scheme, including Germany, Japan and many US states. And it would produce significant savings on redundancy, training and hiring costs, and enable firms to keep skilled staff on their books.

Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj said: 

“The world is moving very clearly in one direction – away from carbon and toward net zero. The UK must keep up with the pace of change.

“There’s still time to protect vital Welsh jobs in manufacturing and its supply chains. But the clock is ticking.

“Unless the Westminster government urgently scales up investment in green tech and industry, we risk losing thousands of decent jobs to competitor nations.

“If we move quickly, we can still safeguard jobs in Welsh industry. The government should boost investment to at least the G7 average and commit to the Green Jobs Taskforce plans in full. Then today’s workers will know that their jobs are safe, and the future can be bright with decent jobs for their children too.”