Labour isn't working

[DimPrawn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6061768.stm

UK unemployment has risen to its highest level in six years, hitting 1.7 million in the three months to August.

The rise of 42,000 took the jobless rate to 5.5%, a rise of 0.1% on the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.

The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance reached 962,000 in September, an increase of 10,200.

Oh Dear. Luckily house price rises continue. We are all saved.

 

[wendigo100]

Good job everyone has been putting money away for a rainy day.

 

[DaveB]

Just for a bit of perspective unemployment is still around half what it was in 1999. When it hits 2 million will be the time to start worrying.

 

[BoredBloke]

"Just for a bit of perspective unemployment is still around half what it was in 1999. When it hits 2 million will be the time to start worrying."

....by simply putting a large chunk on incapacity benefit. It's also handy to massively increase the public sector to create non jobs to mop up a few more. Then you can also expand the higher education system so that you reduce the youth unemployment as they can't be unemployed if they are in full time education. This provides a useful buffer for 3-4 years.

 

[DaveB]

"Just for a bit of perspective unemployment is still around half what it was in 1999. When it hits 2 million will be the time to start worrying."

....by simply putting a large chunk on incapacity benefit. It's also handy to massively increase the public sector to create non jobs to mop up a few more. Then you can also expand the higher education system so that you reduce the youth unemployment as they can't be unemployed if they are in full time education. This provides a useful buffer for 3-4 years.

My bad, quoted the wrong date. Should have been

"...unemployment is still around half what it was in 1986."

Figures taken from here. Page 25.

Yes unemployment has risen recently, but over the longer term it is still a long way from the worst of the 80's. We've got used to low unemployment in that time so a rise gets more of a reaction now than it did then. Remember when the evening news included a report on job losses that day in the same style as the weather forcast?

 

[TwoWolves]

In all fairness the methods used to measure unemployment have been altered so much since the '80s that you cannot reasonably compare the figures, only short-term trends are worthy of comment.

Most unemployment in the '80s was the result of the decline in manufacturing, most around 99/2000 were IT related (dot com bubble etc).

You have to remember that since then immigration has swelled the ranks of job-seekers considerably too.

Conclusion is that government stats are a complete waste of time and serve only to keep unemployable statisticians in employment.

 

[DaveB]

All true. Unfortunately these figures are the only ones anyone has got to go on, so they become the de facto standard that everyone uses for comparason. The only other option is to stop tryng to keep count altogether.

 

[zathras]

"Just for a bit of perspective unemployment is still around half what it was in 1999. When it hits 2 million will be the time to start worrying."

This is absolute Balderdash! do you really believe that all of a sudden just after Tony Blair became PM 2million jobs surfaced. ?

Only thing to remember is that every period of Labour Government(s) has ended with more unemployed than they started with. (The current one has yet to lose an election but give it time)

They really are not that far from this and in all likelyhood by the next election there will be more unemployed than when they started.

 

[BoredBloke]

Just wanted to point out that I didn't say the comment quoted above - I was quoting from an earlier point.

 

[BoredBloke]

also it is worth noting that unemployment had been on the decline since 1993 - well before this shower got in, and that the economy had turned the corner. Unfortunaly for the Tories at that time they came up against a NL spin machine the like of which had not been seen before.