UK unemployment continues to climb

[T_i_B]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17039513

UK unemployment rose by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December, official figures have shown.

The unemployment rate was 8.4%, the Office for National Statistics said, the highest for 16 years.

The number of young people without a job rose 22,000 to 1.04m, taking the unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds to 22.2%.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in January increased by 6,900 to 1.6 million.

[LeftishBrit]

1. Tory governments and unemployment go closely together!

Most depressing.

[T_i_B]

2. The problem started with the credit crunch under Brown

However, regardless of political point scoring things are very bad out there. 5 years ago I knew very few people who were unemployed. Now I know a lot of people who are either unemployed or facing redundancy.

The problem is not limited to the usual parts of the country that suffer from high unemployment and a good proportion of those people I know who are unemployed have been jobless for some time.

[LeftishBrit]

3. It's indeed a long-term global problem...

However, ideological supporters of big cuts in the public services (OK let's not use party labels as they also include a good many LibDems and some Labourites) are certainly making the problem worse.

There are indeed big problems of unemployment everywhere; and even people who do still have jobs are terrified of losing them.

[T_i_B]

4. Public spending cuts are a major factor......

....but not the only one. Credit is still being crunched, so it's still not easy for business to invest. And on top of that things are currently very uncertain in the private sector, especially given what is happening in Europe.

All this means that the private sector is not going to be in any rush to employ more people. The right wing ideologues who have argued (and are still arguing) that the private sector will magically provide loads of jobs for those made redundant from the public sector really have been conning the British public.

Surely you'd think that enough right wingers live in the real world for them to realise that all heavy pulic sector cuts will do is to put loads on people on the dole dependent on the state, and another large section of the population not spending as they are afraid that their job might not be there for very long.