Ties that bind: the British jobs data that really shows the value of the EU

Millions of UK jobs are woven into the to-and-fro of trade with the European Union. And the nature of non-EU trade fails to make the grade.

Uncertainty around the UK’s position in the EU, as well as any subsequent policy changes, can easily damage value-chain trade and the jobs associated with that trade. Leaving the single market may threaten a substantial number of UK jobs and not just in the manufacturing heartlands vulnerable to the rise of Asia but also in the services sectors where growth in employment has been the greatest over the past two decades. The political rush to consider that stark choice of leaving the EU must not sidestep the connectedness that marks out our trading ties – and which helps to support close to 4 million jobs.

• Primary Source

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

ESO: Background information: Ed Miliband to promise business chiefs he will never take Britain out of the EU http://www.europeansources.info/record/ed-miliband-to-promise-business-chiefs-he-will-never-take-britain-out-of-the-eu/

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