Why i dont believe the unemployment figures

So as we are leadto believe there are currently 2.5 million people out of work in the UK. I'd like to argue that figure is much higher than that in reality and i'll tell you why i think that.

Alot of people who could be counted as unployed are currently in training schemes which mask the true figures and often the figures are out dated or collected wrongly.

capitalism of which we live under has a lot to answer to for this result in high unemployment in 2011.
From a ‘rational’ point of view capitalism is a crazy way of running the world. Even though unemployment is relatively low at the moment in Britain (although this will change as recession hits the economy), there are still vast tracts of mass unemployment. The reality is far bleaker than the official figures suggest. In the North of England, Wales and Scotland, the destruction of manufacturing means that jobs are hard to come by.

Even in the South, in the inner cities up to a third of young black people are unemployed. The real number of people looking for work or on government training schemes is probably closer to three million than to two and a half million. (And even in areas where unemployment is currently low, it has been replaced by a massive increase in part-time, temporary work.)

Every unemployed person ‘costs’ around £10,000 a year in benefits paid and taxes lost. The Cambridge Journal of Economics shows that one million jobs could be created for £17 billion. This means that, at current taxation levels, an extra £10 million could be raised or saved! Economists also calculate that each employed person annually contributes, on average, around £22,000 to the economy. Therefore, each unemployed person, given a real job, could produce £22,000 worth of production - potentially around £60 billion.

At the same time as we have unemployment, four million workers in Britain work an average of 48 hours a week. This is the lunacy of capitalism. By introducing a 35-hour week with no loss of pay - in other words, sharing out the work - it would be possible to dramatically reduce the number of unemployed whilst simultaneously improving the quality of life for working people.

If this were combined with a massive increase in public services it would be possible to eliminate unemployment. This would allow us to develop a vastly better public transport system, build public housing, and hire more teachers, nursery staff and health workers.

But for the capitalist class profit comes before anything else. So the development of new technology does not mean, as it could, a shorter week for all, but rather longer, backbreaking hours for some and unemployment for the rest.




So i do think figures of unemployment are far worse than the capitalist news sources would have you believe. A lot of down playing the situation is going on at the moment and i'm no fool i can tell that my fellow people around me are struggling. The youth of toay and the people leaving university today are leaving to a labour market where there is little if any prospect of finding lasting employment for themselves.

The longer people are out of work and on job seakers allowance the doll to many people this will be costing the country more and more in deficit and ultimatly will not help the country or the economy. But these are forgotton people. The tories expect the private sector to pick up the loss of jobs in the public sector as a result of public sector cuts i fail to see this happening as the private sector in many ways is struggling too.

So as i say lets look at the governments figures with more sceptism as i frankly feel they dont tell the full story and never have as the working class are often forgotton about.

As the old saying goes out of sight out of mind...

Shameful changes to employment laws

In this article this morning in the telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8249491/Firms-get-powers-to-sack-the-slackers.html



David Cameron hopes that relaxed employment laws will help to boost the private sector and encourage firms to take on thousands of new workers Photo: PA
By Andrew Porter, and Robert Winnett 10:00PM GMT 09 Jan 2011 243 Comments
The new “employers’ charter” will allow companies to sack workers during the first two years of their employment without the threat of being taken to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Currently an employee can bring an unfair dismissal claim after only a year.

To reduce the number of vexatious allegations, workers will face a fee when lodging an employment tribunal claim.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the Government is also launching a review that is likely to see small companies excluded from some stringent employment laws. The length of time that firms have to pay workers statutory sick pay is set to be reduced as part of the shake-up.

David Cameron hopes that relaxed employment laws will help to boost the private sector and encourage firms to take on thousands of new workers.


I read all through this article and saw no where where this helps people feel more safe in their jobs. Taking a personal perspective if i got a new job and they could get rid of me without a tribunal and no reason given within 2 years i'd be very upset and disapointed. To me this is taking rights away from the workers in the private sector. This can only help the boss's and their profits of being able to get away with not paying for employment dismissal tribunals.

It is disgusting i feel and peoples rights are impeeded by this. I do wonder waht the EU would make of this being inflicted on our good hard honest workers.

It is a ploy to get cheap labour in and get rid of them easily when you no longer need them for next to nothing. Big corperations will be rubbing their hands with glee with the sound of this.

Very shameful and saddening for workers rights in this country.

we'll make work pay say tories

After reading this news today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11728546
the Minister for work and pensions, Iain Duncan Smith has claimed to make work pay for people. There will be a universal benifit consolidating all benifits in to one big benifit. By big i mean a one which contains them all. Although it doesnt of course it is reducing your benifits as they are just merging them all together.

Firstly i think this is wrong in itself i am against a universal benifit as such.

Also i totally oppose how the coalition government are going about these plans. No one disagrees taht if people can work they should try to. But the tactics the condems plan to use by if you dont find work within a year you will be forced, yes i said it forced to work in the community picking litter or something of taht nature. Aswell as this slave labour to keep their reduced benifits they will loose their benifits for 3 years if they refuse to work.

This criminalisation of the unemployeed is a disgrace in my view and is yet another attack on the less well off in this country by the rich. Tories are convinced there are jobs about to get into. Well why is unemployment rising month on month. With a record amount of university graduates unemployed this year this will only rise.

This is all before the proposed 490,000 public sector job cuts proposed in teh spending review last monthh.

Labour say they support these plans from teh government even the universal benifit which means people will be less well off under the plans. Their only concern is if there is enough jobs out there. If i was higher up in labour i'd be banging the drum loud on this. there are real major social concerns about these plans. Coupled with the reduction in housing benifit and the rise in VAT come january we will quickly find a lot more homeless people on our streets once again. I am depressed to see which direction this government is taking this country. Making the unemployed feel like they are criminals for not being able to find a job is just plain wrong in my view.

If the jobs were there and being created i can see the logic of encouraging people in to them. not that they would need much encouraging as i am sure most people agree with me that most people would rather be in work than not. Alot of them time people are unemployed through no fault of their own

I think Mr Ducan Smith needs to go back to that council estate he visited in 2002 and take a look again at how bad some areas of this country is in terms of unemployment and how George osbournes cuts will further affect poor areas.