Government investment is preventing soaring unemployment
The Future Jobs Fund and the Young Person’s Guarantee will be extended until 2012. The labour market is starting to recover far earlier than expected.
Nicola Smith
Website Nicola writes for Left Foot Forward on labour market issues. She is the Head of the Economic and Social Affairs Department at the TUC - and is a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee - and also writes at Touchstone.
Women at work should fear spending cuts
Up to now this recession has hit men’s jobs harder than women’s, although the gender difference in unemployment increases has been less than in past downturns.
New rights for families are good news for business
This new policy on parental leave provides families with more choice in their work/family balance, and allows children to spend more time with their fathers.
More misreporting on public sector pay
Right wing papers have reported a “record” gap between public and private sector earnings. But this includes nationalised banks – the gap shrinks without them.
Labour’s “job guarantee” vital in fight against long term unemployment
The TUC propose that the job guarantee should be available to all adults who have been unemployed and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than 12 months.
Jobseeker’s Allowance is worth less and harder to claim than ever before
While unemployment is continuing to rise, & the labour market remains fragile, the rate of increase in unemployment has been slower than we could have expected.
1980s recession was worse for young people
In the 1980s, 26% of 16-24 year olds were not in full-time education and either unemployed or economically inactive. The current figure is 21%, or 1.6 million.
New Reform report should be welcomed by progressives
Nigel Stanley of the TUC welcomes Reform’s new report on “The Front Line”