unemployment
Labour market deterioriation is now becoming a cause for real concern
Today's labour market statistics are simply bad news, though the monthly unemployment data are slightly more promising - but overall, levels remain high.
Cutting workers’ rights will not increase employment
Nicola Smith reports on the evidence which shows that David Cameron's plans to reduce workers' rights will not increase employment.
Unemployment rise on a scale not seen since the recession
The unemployment rate rose from 7.7 to 7.9 per cent, the highest since March, while the employment figures are equally grotty, down 64,000 from last month.
London and Scotland lead the way as Britain’s jobless league soars
The GMB has uncovered shocking evidence of the damage caused by the coalition's cuts, with a national average of 2.6 claimants for every job vacancy. This is a situation that is likely to get worse as the sacking of 500,000 public sector workers begins to bite harder in 2011.
What kind of jobs recovery is going on?
There is some good news in today’s labour market statistics. There were 2,448,000 people unemployed in the three months from July to September, down 9,000 on the figures for April to June. The number of people in employment was up 167,000 from April-June, reaching 29,189,000.
Why workfare won’t work
The Government yesterday announced its plans to make benefit claimants work for their benefits. Under this US-style Workfare, people who have been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for 12 months or more will be required to do community work for 30 hours a week for four months. This could be cleaning the streets, picking up litter or painting walls.