Burnley Borough Council has become one of the town's major employers through its Manpower Service Commission Community Programme.

300 people are employed directly through the scheme  all of them with previous long-term unemployment problems. The projects undertaken by the program include the Briercliffe environmental project which operates in the parishes of Haggate and St James employing 11 people re-fencing, landscaping, footpaths, dry stone walling, churchyard tidying and tree and flower planting. The canal and Worsthorne Moor project employs 47 and is providing continuing work creating a proper towpath suitable for walkers and disabled vehicles and wheelchairs, improving access for fishing and leisure