The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167044 Message #4026360
Posted By: Steve Shaw
04-Jan-20 - 07:47 PM
Thread Name: BS: Broken Govt Pledges: 1 UK Political thread
Subject: RE: BS: Broken Govt Pledges: 1 UK Political thread
Well there are the truly unemployed. The way the figures go, there are far fewer of them than, say, under Thatcher. It's quite important to recognise that "unemployment" has been massaged by all governments for decades. Do you mean just those on jobseekers? Or do you include those without jobs who don't qualify for jobseekers? Do you include the hundreds of thousands who are phoned up every week to be told there's no work and no pay today? How does it go for seasonal workers? What about those young people on fake apprenticeships that involve putting the kettle on and sweeping up after everyone else has gone home? Gig economy - how do we count those when sometimes they work, other times they don't, for sure never getting sick/maternity/holiday pay? How about those on ESA who are routinely hassled by jobcentres and sanctioned at the whim of inhuman jobsworths? Thatcher managed to convince us that unemployment was not rising by putting hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of industrial jobs in steel, the mines and other industries on to "incapacity benefit" when most of them were more than fit for work.
Unemployment statistics are a huge lie. Look for yourself behind the numbers. If employment was so healthy, there would be no-one sleeping rough, no food banks and no-one struggling with rent arrears.
This is the culture promoted by a decade of Toryism. We are told the lie that there are more "in work" than ever before. What they don't tell us is how many of those "in work" are in work today and out tomorrow, or next week. They don't tell us how many in-work people, "in work" by their measure, can't pay their rent or who have to go to food banks. It's a useful lie to tell, because if we are all doing so well the Tories can manage to cut taxes for the rich. You know how it goes...