Do You Feel That The Unemployment Figures Announced Today Were Massaged Downwards?

Late May is always a good time to launch stats as the seasonal intake of people are on board ( summer working ) and the 36,000 is only a 1.4% drop anyway.

Sure the figures give a false picture. They do not, for example, illustrate the much more rapid fall had the public sector not been hammered over the same period.

WE are told that the real effect of the cuts will be seen in October this year. Combine that with the seasonal rise in jobless at the same time and I think the picture will look somewhat grimmer.

And the figures can be further massaged by the steadily increasing enforcement of getting people off income support, employment support allowance, incapacity benefit and into training and fabricated low value placements.

I suggest that when the jobless total falls by 30%, and we actually begin to know people who have found work after long to medium term unemployment, that will be a day to celebrate!

Massaged is an under statement its well known that people are moved from job seekers to other benefits after a period of time.