States to spend £44m for jobless

More than £40m is to be spent by Jersey's government to help people who have lost their jobs because of the economic downturn.

Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf said he would sign off money that had been set aside for a number of projects designed to help the island's economy.

Among them will be new courses to help people retrain, plus money for business promotion agency Jersey Enterprise.

The £44m will come from the island's stabilisation fund.

'Regrettable' losses

Unemployment more than doubled in Jersey in a year, according to figures from the States released earlier this month.

Statistics for the year up to 31 March showed 923 people were out of work, up from 440 at the same time in 2008.

Since then, the Lloyds Banking Group announced it was cutting about 180 jobs in Jersey.

Minister Ozouf said the money for 21 schemes would help insulate islanders from the effects of the economic downturn.

He said: "We can put in place new arrangements for helping people get retrained and we can help stimulate business by putting more money into Jersey Enterprise.

"Job losses are regrettable, but they are not completely unexpected, we can do something about that.

"This money injected into the economy will make a difference over the next few months."