Surprise unemployment rise

[jake-the-peg]

It seems that unemployment is now up 35,000 after 6 months of falls.

Any ideas of why? Has there been a sudden loss of confidence by employers in the economy?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11998364

What does 35,000 unemployed cost the nation in benefit and lost tax income?

[anotheoldgit]

It is because of the Public Sector job losses.

It will only get worse, when the young can no longer afford to take the easy way out to go on to further education and then maybe on to University.

[boxtops]

Almost certainly something to do with AOG's replies. My own public sector employer is making redundancies at the moment.

[boxtops]

^reply

[Haggisdj]

There are going to be many more I fear. Local Governments, such as the one I work for, will be laying off vast percentages of their workforces. Those who are outsourced are not guaranteed to be safe either. It's the contracts that companies want, not the employees. After the end of the agreed tupe agreement a lot of the ex-government employees will be made redundant.

[jake-the-peg]

And those public sector employees are the customers of an awful lot of private sector companies in all sorts of ways.

Average Briton pays £4,000 in income tax and probably about £2500 in VAT if they only get £5,000 a year in benefits that's nearly £12,000 a year lost each

Another half a billion quid down the tubes

[mollykins]

It's gone down in east anglia according to the itv news!

[rov1200]

Strangely the rise in unemployment has gone with a fall in those collecting Job Seeker allowance when you would expect the opposite. Also many firms including the post office usually take on casual workers towards Xmas so you would expect a reduction not a rise in unemployment.

The cold snap may have something to do with it but this should only be temporary.

Our exports have risen but this has been exceeded by imports. Our export markets in Europe as well as Ireland are taking a hammering so you expect some cutbacks there.

Maybe its a matter of confidence. The coalition can't have been helped by Labour's continual sniping about a double dip recession. People are more worried about keeping their jobs.

The inflation rate is too high at nearly 4% and looks like increasing. If peoples wages are constant it is probably because QE has devalued our currency and imports are more expensive because of it. A cheaper £ does not help some companies and the cost of imported materials does matter. Companies cannot afford the higher import prices so they lay people off.

[ABerrant]

Unemployment rates are a lagging indicator of economic trends.

http://epp.eurostat.e...ary:Lagging_indicator

The lag tends to be 2 or 3 Quarters behind economic activity so since this "surprise" increase in unemployment is based on figures to October, statistical theory dictates it must be a reaction to the macroeconomics of Quarters before last March.

[jake-the-peg]

That would be true if we were talking about the private sector but as pointed out above at the moment we are not.

These are mostly public sector losses - the big private sector losses will be in 2-3 quarters from all that money being pulled out of the economy

Nice try though

[R1Geezer]

well only 565000 to go to get rid of the non jobs created by your Noo Labour buddies. Oh no where am I going to find a Gay/Lesbian outreach advisor against the bomb now? disaster! I think I'm going to have only 4 bits of fruit and veg tomorrow! Perlease Jake, what a twee observation, even for you!

[New Judge]

Quite so Geezer. Unfortunately many people recruited to such positions will go through the ignominy of unemployment and all it holds before they find themselves something useful and productive to do for a living.

These people were conned by the previous administration that what they were doing was necessary and useful (even though much of what they did had not been done at all ten years earlier). They will now pay the price for that folly, but it is obviously unsustainable to expect the taxpayer to fund upwards of half a million unnecessary jobs.

Only when the nation cures itself of its addiction to public sector non-employment will it begin to prosper. But despite all the fanfares trumpeted by the Coalition, still it goes on. Here’s just a few “jobs” advertised in the usual place today:

Head of Creative Sector -Welsh Assembly - £59k.

Personalisation and Market Development Manager (“Helping you live the life you want”) – London Borough of Barking and Dagenham - £43k

Category Manager People Hub – London Borough of Camden - £55k

Quality Assurance Manager – London Borough of Hackney - £40k

Equality and Diversity Manager – General Medical Council - £50k

and finally...

Senior Policy Advisors – Cabinet Office - £72k

As you say, Geezer, how can we manage without these people?

[hc4361]

And what will happen when the long term sick claimants are kicked into the job market?

[Prudie]

Please note that I am a public sector worker and at my 'place' we are facing redudancies for the first time ever and it's the bread and butter staff that are for the chop not the pink and fluufy people.

[Prudie]

^ fluffy (obviously)

[mike11111]

"where am I going to find a Gay/Lesbian outreach advisor against the bomb now? disaster!"
Here I am, though might need a refresher course before starting. -:)

[TheTruthHere]

The figures are fiddled unemployment has gone up much higher, People who have gone to sign on are fobbed off.
Go and try to claim for something, the people on here who say people on the dole are having a gay old time have no idea.
Have a read of some of the letters sent in on that link that Jake has posted.

( I am a solicitor and was made redundant in March. I signed on to get jobseeker's allowance but can't claim any other benefits because my husband earns money. I cannot get mortgage relief or council tax relief for the same reason. I have been a high-rate taxpayer all my life and now I'm not entitled to anything. I go to the JobCentre every two weeks to get my NI stamp paid and they are completely unprepared for people like me, professionals looking for a job. It's very frustrating, the lack of help )

[scotman]

New Judge

Not sure why you lumped Quality Assurance in with the non-jobs

[New Judge]

Of course it depends what the precise role involves. But usually in Local Government (and indeed some of the larger private concerns) “Quality Assurance” managers undertake tasks that all managers and employees should consider part of their “business as Usual”.

Part of the job description for the particular job I identified:

“The Quality Assurance Manager is responsible for leading on service improvement, quality control...”

Individual managers – indeed all employees – should see these tasks as part of their everyday responsibilities.To employ dedicated managers to undertake these tasks is a luxury that taxpayer funded organisations cannot afford.

[horselady]

I'm in the public sector too, my department is certainly being filleted. Lots of worried people around.

[Eve]

I've heard of quite a few redundancies recently in both the public and private sector.

Sounds like businesses still struggling and just can't keep going as they are so have to take action and make redundancies. Businesses still going under as well or just calling it a day and shutting up shop with the fallout of job losses. Lack of work, lack of funding, nowhere near the availability of bank money or easy loans for bailout etc...