The true state of UK unemployment is more than double official figures at 6.3 million if US rather than domestic metrics are used, research has revealed.
If the US U6 measure, which includes unemployed, economically inactive (discouraged), marginally attached and under-employed workers, is applied to measure ‘total’ worklessness in the UK, the figure is higher than at any point since records began in 1993 when it stood at 6.1 million.
In contrast, UK statistics, which measure only two rather than six forms of joblessness, indicate that ILO unemployment is currently 2.68 million, of which 1.6 million are claiming benefits.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, which undertook the analysis, said: “The headline unemployment figures are bad enough, but the true scale of joblessness is even worse. Over six million people are either out of work or under-employed. Tackling this crisis should be the government’s number one priority.”
The research showed that ILO unemployment was higher in the early 1990s, peaking at 3.02 million in January 1993. But underemployment, where people work part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs, is higher today at 1.9 million than at any point since April 1993, when it stood at 802,000.
The number of economically inactive people who want to work is at similar levels today (2.34 million) as it was in April 1993 (2.35 million), after the situation peaked at 2.59 million in December 1996.
Decent jobs
But the figures showed that the current jobs crisis was not confined to people who were out of work, Barber said.
“Nearly two million people are being forced to take low-paid, insecure, short hours jobs because of the lack of proper full-time employment,” he attested. “This means people are taking home much less pay, which is putting a real strain on family budgets.”
The problem was that, unless the UK got people back into decent jobs and wages that grew in line with prices, “we will not secure sustainable economic recovery nor get the deficit down”, Barber said.
The news came as ministers urged employers to claim their share of a £1 billion wage subsidy through the government’s ‘Youth Contract’ scheme. The aim is to encourage them to take on up to 16,000 young people from April this year by covering costs such as National Insurance.
Employers are eligible to apply for up to £2,275 per person aged between 18 and 24 years old if they hire them from the government’s Work Programme. Part-time roles of between 16 and 29 hours will also be worth £1,137.50 each.
Payment will be made after a young person has been employed for 26 weeks, although the subsidy will be paid in two instalments for smaller businesses to help with cash flow issues. The first instalment in this instance will be paid after eight weeks and the remainder after 26.
