A LEADING business chief does not believe any recession will have the same impact on jobs as that of the 1970s.

Mike Damms, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, made the comments during a speech to business men and women at a Strategic Employers Forum organised by Community and Business Partners at Ewood Park, Blackburn.

He said: “This does not feel like the 1970s when everything was over-manned.

“It will not hit East Lancashire as bad as others in the short term as others because we don’t have a sophisticated financial sector or sophisticated housing sector.”

Mr Damms said the area’s manufacturing base would shield it from a lot of the problems affecting other regions of the UK.

The economy shrank for the first time since 1992 between July and September.

Output fell by 0.5 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics during that period.

Public debt hit a record £37.6 billion between April and September - higher than the whole of the previous year.

The Chancellor’s forecasts of £43 billion of borrowing this year are in tatters and some experts have warned that debt could balloon to £120 billion in three years.

On Thursday, Chancellor Alistair Darling and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson are expected to set out measures to help small businesses through the downturn when they meet the president of the European Investment Bank, Philippe Maystadt.

The Federation of Small Businesses is urging the creation of a £1 billion “survival fund”, funded by the EIB and the Treasury, to save threatened jobs.