Three years on it’s now as clear the Government's plan is
failing, and failing badly.
Not only are more people unemployed than at the election,
it’s soaring up. Seventy thousand more people are now on the dole than last
month, youth unemployment rose by 20,000 and long term unemployment rose yet
again to 900,000. In Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands, the
position was worse than nationally, with employment falling and unemployment increasing.
Research by the House of Commons’ Library shows that real
terms’ wages are, on average, £1,700 lower than in May 2010. Wages were flat
last year, but inflation continued at more than 3%, with inflation in
essentials, like food and energy, rising faster than that. Although the UK
might just miss a triple-dip recession, the squeeze on households is worsening
as consumers are caught between falling incomes and rising living costs.
Four times as many households (32 per cent) said that their
finances had worsened last month than reported an improvement (8 per cent).
Families earning below £23,000 a year and those living in social rented housing
were hit worst by the downturn, with 45 per cent of council tenants reporting
deterioration in their household budgets, compared with only 2 per cent who
said that their situations had improved.
To look at this another way, families earning below £23,000
a year are effectively having to work an extra 6 weeks a year to make what they
did in 2010. It’s not surprising that they feel they're going backwards,
because they are going backwards.
We urgently need action to get local people into work. That
is why I’m supporting a compulsory jobs guarantee, which will get any adult out
of work for more than two years - or young person out of work for a year - into
a job they would be required to take. Without such action now, this government
is condemning a whole generation to joblessness.
