THE GOVERNMENT is lying about the real unemployment level. That was the conclusion of a detailed study made by Cambridge economics lecturer John Wells, published on 1 January.
Based on official statistics, including those of the International Labour Organisation, Wells showed that the number of people actively seeking work but unable to claim benefit is 1.08 million.
The government's 'official' unemployment figure is 2.92 million. So the real figure is around 4 million.
But says Wells, if people who have not sought work in the last four weeks are included, the figure is closer to 5 million. Those extra million are workers who did not seek work because, quite rationally, they believe there is none at their level of skills.
The 5 million figure included 306,000 people on government "work' programmes, designed to massage the unemployment figures.
Since 1979 there have been 29 (!) changes in the way that unemployment figures are calculated, all of them designed to reduce the number of people officially classified as unemployed.
Five million unemployed does not exhaust the toll of human misery caused by the recession and Tory policies however. Millions of people are now on part-time or doing short-term contract work.
Between 8-10 people face permanent insecurity, either unemployed or only precariously employed.
Hard on the heels of Wells' report care another, again by a Cambridge economist, which showed an almost 100 per cent match between the levels of crime and the levels of unemployment.
In particular, the number of burglaries exactly matches the changes in the level of unemployment among young men Timex strikers led the fight for jobs last year: who will follow in 1994?
HOME NEWS between 17 and 25. In various European counThis new study is a dramatic tries there is an active debate on refutation of John Major's the reduction of the working claims that crime is caused by week to 35, or 32 hours with no individual wickedness and has loss of pay. no social causes. It shows the In France a massive camhypocrisy of the "self help' and paign (Agir ensemble contre le 'back to basics' campaigns. chomage') has been launched, Crime is going up and the fighting for a 35-hour week, Tory solution is not to tackle its with the perspective of an evencauses, but to put more people tual 30-hour week. in prison. Capitalism permanently creRates unemployment, which of Scandal courses skyrockets during recessions and slumps. Only a soThe scandal in current situation is the passivity and resig- cially-planned economy can nation of the labour and trade overcome it. union leaders in the face of this The task for the labour toll of human misery. Even on movement now is to fight back against it, around demands for the left there is no big camthe reduction of the working paign. week with no loss of pay.