Unemployment on the rise, set to get worse?

In 1997, when Gordon Brown announced the “most radical welfare reforms since the Second World War”, he declared that the unemployed young would be first in the firing line. “How,” he asked, “did a society like ours get itself into a position where we are wasting young people’s talents like this?”

The Chancellor had what he thought was a solution. Under his Welfare-to-Work programme, funded by a £5 billion windfall tax on the privatised utilities, the welfare state would be transformed, making it crystal clear that “staying at home is not an option”.

But, 10 years on, the work ethic that Mr Brown was so confident he could inculcate in the nation’s jobless youth remains elusive. In fact, things have got worse: the phenomenon of Neets (young people “not in education, employment or training”) is on the rise.

More than 1.2 million 16- to 24-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales – almost a fifth of the age group – are spending their time doing literally nothing, according to a study published last week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/15/neets15.xml

The number of people out of work increased by 21,000 to 1.69 million between December and February, but the unemployment rate was steady at 5.5%. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) follow four consecutive months of falls.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6566809.stm

Political analyst Jon Gaunt said today on talksport, that there is 2.7 million people claiming invalidity benefit, making it effectively 4.4 million unemployed, because since the 90’s, people have become crafty and moved over to sick benefit from unemployment benefit, and New Labour did jack about it, probably hoping for their vote.

I dont ever remember the combined figure of unemployment and sick benefit reaching 4.4 million, even when there were more than 3 million unemployed in the 70’s and 80’s, there wasn’nt many on sick benefit.

Weve recently slipped to the 5th richest nation, we dont produce in the manufacturing industry like we used to, just what is keeping this country afloat? When will it go bang?

A political commentator on a local radio phone-in said not long after blair became Prime Minister, he said, “this government will eventually bring us to our knees”. Lets face it, they do not know how to spend our money, he may be right.