Wednesday 18 April 2012

Those unemployment figures

We're told today that unemployment is down just a bit.  But long-term joblessness has actually gone up, especially amongst the over 50s, and a great many of the jobs people have managed to get are part-time.  And that must be a worry for the Work Programme providers, who can only claim money for full-time job outcomes, and get most money for those who've been out of work longest.  There continues to be most emphasis on unemployment of young people, understandably.  But that growing army of workless middle aged people has serious implications for society as well.
Grayling has assured us, though, that the WP offers "tailored support".   In one of the reports in the papers we were told that the WP is currently showing 30% outcomes; but I can't find that report now, and it may have been edited out of the online versions.  Mustn't give anything away too soon.
And what of A4e?  The company appears to be keeping a low profile.  And Emma Harrison seems to have disappeared.  Has her picture been removed from all those walls yet?

5 comments:

  1. Actually, Unemployment in the North West has gone UP by 18,000. It was mentioned on the North West news. And if you look deeper you will see that there are less full time jobs, down 27,000 if I recall, up 80,000 Part time jobs.

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  2. The prevalence of part time jobs has a knock on effect in slowing down any recovery. By this I mean that before considering taking on new employees most employers will increase the hours of part timers. This would be welcomed by most part timers and is the cheapest way for an employer to increase capacity. net result - no new job. There is a lot of slack in the system th be taken up this way before we see a meaningful increase in new jobs.
    Incidentally I read somewhere that the deadweight percentage was 28% so an actual figure of 30% means that all the expense of the WP has resulted in a +2% net result. I do not know what this represents in numbers but I'm guessing the cost per net job must be enormous.

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  3. Concerning a4e, it's all gone quiet and there hasn't been any news for quite a while.
    Any updates on the situation ?

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  4. Yes, the pictures are down!

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