The post below this on the YamYam, from Walsall Liberal Democrat leader Ian Shires notes that unemployment in Walsall has ‘Fallen almost 20%’ It hasn’t, the number claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has.
So many people are being sanctioned, pushed into workfare and denied benefit, such crowing is ugly, delusory and bordering on mendacity.
I’ll see if I can find the overall figures at some point.
If you want to know more, read this interesting blog post.
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Amazing isn’t it once forced onto workfare under threat of destitution the unemployed disappear from the official unemployment statistics!. Although they are still unemployed and claiming jobseekers allowance and are forced to work unpaid for 30 hours a week in shops, factories and other private businesses.
2.4 million unemployed
3 million underemployed
50,000 unemployed on workfare
that’s at least 5.45 million looking for jobs the DWP claims there are around 400,000 vacancies although the same job is often advertised multiple times by different employment agencies and then you have the part time jobs so you could easily knock 100,000 of that 400,000.
The truth is we are looking at around 300,000 full time jobs for 5500000 people so quite how Walsall has reduced its unemployment by 20% in a year begs the question is this a miracle or a big fat manipulation of the statistics?
Thank you for illuminating my point with such clarity. Another scam is taking kids with no apprenticeship available, and putting them through thumb-twiddling ‘pre-apprenticeship courses’ which confer no benefit, no qualification and defer them from the figures for at least 5 months.
Cheers
Bob
We still have a million under 25s unemployed “officially” to put that into perspective that’s the equivalent of the entire population of the Birmingham metropolitan borough!.
And the Tory solution? 30 hours a week laboring in a Poundland warehouse for a quarter of the minimum wage exploitation like that is only going to breed resentment in my opinion. I hope that when the resulting anger manifests itself at some point in the future it is on a ballot paper and not on the streets.