The unemployed have been paying the price for our greed said Dr Robin Woods the Bishop of Worcester at the Church of England Synod on Wednesday.
"It is clear" he said, "that unemployment is written into the very structure of industrial development," He called on the whole population to sacrifice higher real earnings so that the unemployed might earn at all.
Far reaching changes in Britain's life style were essential, "less systematic overtime, longer holidays, more sabaticals and earlier retirement could all relieve the pressure on the available jobs and so allow them to be shared more fairly" he said.
Bishop Woods also urged the Government to give greater en couragement to small cornpanies through tax incentives and through less frustrating legislation. "Employment subsidies to help small firms might do much more for the future than we estimate at present" he said.
Bishop Woods was introducing the debate on unemployment at the Synod and was proposing that the Synod urged the Secretary of State for Employment to adopt policies reflecting the long term needs of our society in the field of work and employment. The mo t i on Was carried overwhelmingly.