Northeast area cuts employment bringing apprehension (6)
I believe the answer is:
unease
'apprehension' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'northeast area cuts employment' is the wordplay.
'northeast' becomes 'ne' ('NE' can be a synonym of 'northeast').
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'cuts' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters cut their way into other letters).
'employment' becomes 'use' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employment').
'ne'+'a'='nea'
'nea' put inside 'use' is 'UNEASE'.
'bringing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for unease that I've seen before include "Disquiet" , "State of worry and lack of confidence" , "Discomfort or apprehension" , "Anxiety, discontent" , "State of anxiety" .)