Unemployment is down.
The evidence that spending out of recession works is unambiguous and clear.
So why are people will talking about cuts when it is growth that will repay the debts — growth that the private sector cannot and will not generate?
It’s time to agree Compass and the Green New Deal got this right.
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But isn’t the number of people in employment also down? (the number of people who are economically inactive soared by 150,000).
From my own experience of Job Seeker’s Allowance, it’s my understanding that lots of people don’t claim it after 6 months because of a change in the way it is calculated and its intrusive nature. I don’t think that these numbers therefore in any way accurately reflect the number of unemployed.
I have plenty of friends recently out of university who have just stopped looking for work (and therefore in fact cannot claim Jobseeker’s) because it was a fruitless exercise. There’s only so long you can churn out applications. They now live with friends or with their family.
Unambiguous and clear?
From the FT today: “[in the final quarter] private sector employment tumbled by 61,000”
“The number of people classes as economically inactive shot up by 149,000 to a record of 8.16m, largely driven by an increase in students as young people took refuge in education instead of seeking jobs”.
Far from unambiguous. Very worrying, in my view.
@mad foetus
Sure as heck we’re not out of the woods
But we don’t have the disaster the Tories would have, and want to, deliver
That’s my point
And in the meantime the spending must continue
Richard
“Unemployment” is down, but so is employment. The truth is that the numbers of “economically inactive” have increased.
Spending hasn’t increased employment and it has provided a limited boost to the economy as evidenced 12-15% budget deficit and 0-1% GDP growth. Cutting spending will be painful, but it is the only way that the UK economy will eventually recover.
Richard
The link to your ‘Taxing Banks’ report is confusing me. How does that show that uunemployment is down?
Colman Stephenson
Colman
That’s called a blogging error – and on a slow wireless connection from Washington I apologise!
The link was meant to be to the FT
I got it wrong when blogging at Heathrow
Richard