A workers' union in England has warned that there could be serious unemployment issues in the county of Yorkshire if the government goes ahead with plans to make cuts in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) by 2015.

The government announced that the DWP could cut up to 3,000 of its 10,000 jobs across the country within the next three to four years.

This has led to concern in Yorkshire, mostly because 2,000 of these jobs are based in the city of Sheffield.

Martin John, national officer for the PCS civil service union, told the Yorkshire Post that these cuts could mean a loss of up to 1,000 jobs in Sheffield.

"A lot of these job losses will be expert specialist posts. If the government was serious about responding to rising unemployment it would be increasing the capacity of the DWP not making these cuts," he added.

Ironically, these cuts were announced just a week after business secretary Vince Cable announced a £1 billion fund to boost the jobs market in the UK.

Posted by Lee Thrace