Frank Fields fibbing figures

Frank Field, the former minister for welfare reform in Blairs first government, is a funny fellow. Like many of Tonys cronies he delights in pandering to the basest instincts of our rabid tabloid press. In this CiF article, he suggests that benefits be cut for the long-term unemployed, a la Reinfeld and Co. This, despite the fact that Labour are supposed to be a left-leaning party, and that unemployment in the UK is in fact pretty low compared to the rest of Europe. He of course also manipulates the figures to support his dodgy argument, which I took issue with:

"10 years on, the number of working age claimants has only fallen from 5.6 to 5.4 million. The most dramatic of policy shake-ups is urgently required."

Again, a shameless selection of figures being used to push the daily mail agenda. Total unemployment in the UK fell from 6.8% in 1997 to 4.8% in 2005. The reason for the small drop in absolute numbers is due to an increase in population. This compares with an average unemployment of 8.6% within the Eurozone. Even Denmark and Ireland, widely acknowledged to be the star economic performers in Europe, had unemployment rates of 4.8% and 4.4% respectively in 2005. Regarding long-term unemployment, the UK is again lower than Ireland, Denmark and the Eurozone average.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=Yearlies_new_population&root=Yearlies_new_population/C/C4/C42/em071
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=Yearlies_new_population&root=Yearlies_new_population/C/C4/C42/sc061

Unemployment is a personal tragedy and resources should rightfully be directed to tackling it, but these tactics of punishing those unfortunate enough to be unemployed should be resisted. Restricting immigration doesn't help either, it builds on the fallacy that there is a set amount of work to be performed. The Poles who have came here have plugged holes in the employment market and are to a large extent responsible for the buoyant UK economy (and resulting low unemployment). Frank Field (and Frank Fisher aka MrPikeBishop) are willfully ignoring the facts to pander to a xenophobic poor-bashing Daily Mail agenda.