• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' generatio

RightinNYC

Girthless
DP Veteran
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
25,893
Reaction score
12,484
Location
New York, NY
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Conservative
Five million have never had a job under Labour - raising fears of a 'Shameless' generation of benefit addicts | Mail Online

At least five million people of working age have not done a day's work since Labour came to power, research suggests.

The figure, to be highlighted by the Tories tomorrow, will fuel fears that the Government has cultivated a 'Shameless' generation dependent on the state.

An analysis of official data shows that three million in England and Wales had no job between 1996 and 2001, while a further two million had never had a job.

The latest official figures say unemployment has risen to 2.4million - its highest since 1995 - as the recession takes hold.

But there is growing evidence of a hidden army of Britons of working age who are not in jobs.

They include those stuck on incapacity benefit, lone parents and youngsters not in education or employment (NEETs).

Not sure how this compares to other countries, but that's around 8% of the population. The article also notes that there are 2.6m people on "incapacity benefit," 800k of whom have been on it for more than 10 years.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

Five million have never had a job under Labour - raising fears of a 'Shameless' generation of benefit addicts | Mail Online



Not sure how this compares to other countries, but that's around 8% of the population. The article also notes that there are 2.6m people on "incapacity benefit," 800k of whom have been on it for more than 10 years.

I'd be a wee bit cautious of believing what I read in the Daily Mail. It's not got the best reputation for accuracy, and they're strongly pro-Tory (UK papers are quite often very open about having political afiliation). I'd actually want to see the methodology behind that study, to see if they were counting students, carers and stay-at-home parents as "didn't have a job in X period", which would artificially inflate the results.

Mhm, there are complaints about the amount of people on Incapacity Benefit. It's recently been revamped in Scotland as Employment Support Allowance, and the aim is to get anyone claiming Incapacity who's fit for work, back in work.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

I agree with Anima, the newspaper in question is not exactly know for its unbiased approach to things. It loves to flame the flames so to say and highly pro-Tory and always has been. I like their sports section though heh.. but wtf.

For one thing, as Anima mentions, methodology is lacking. It is easy to buff up such numbers with students, at home moms and so on. And I suspect that at home moms are counted in the numbers since they mention it at the end..

his wife Tracey, 41, has never had a job

Funny that you have to go to the picture above to note that they have 10 children....wonder if that is reason enough not to have a job...

But even if you look at the numbers mentioned and the dates.

Labour came to power in 1997... the numbers are from 1995 and onwards. Hence a big part of the blame for at least the numbers for the first few years, is to be put on.... drumroll.... The Tories under John Major and before that a certain Maggie Thatcher. Its not like Labour could magically force these people into work with in years of gaining power, especially if said people were already deadbeats under the former conservative government...then the question comes up.. why did the conservatives not do anything about it?

Of course Labour is not blameless if the numbers are even remotely true, however from reading the article you would think it was all labours fault..
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

I'm not really posting it for the Labour v. Tory thing, but rather for the idea that there could be that large of a percentage of the population who has never worked (or hasn't in a long time).

I agree that they're not very clear about some things, like whether they're including stay-at-home moms, but some of the numbers seem a bit surprising regardless.

Workless households now number 3.3million, up from 240,000, while working homes are at 10.7million - down 410,000.

If that means there are 14m households, then 24% of the households in Britain have nobody working. That seems really high, regardless of who is included.

2.6m on incapacity with 800k on it for more than 10 years

That's 4.3% and 1.3% of the population respectively.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

-- If that means there are 14m households, then 24% of the households in Britain have nobody working. That seems really high, regardless of who is included--

National Statistics show that it's actually 3.3 million households - but even that figure is too high for comfort.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

5 million. Only because they were raised by thier baby boomer parents who gave everything to thier kids on a silver platter.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

I'm not really posting it for the Labour v. Tory thing, but rather for the idea that there could be that large of a percentage of the population who has never worked (or hasn't in a long time).

I understand that is you motivation, but you can not, not pull the Labour vs Tory thing into the picture, because that is part of the motivation of the article and the paper it self. I dont think I have ever seen anything positive in the newspaper about labour or the UK since I have been reading it. It is a very negative newspaper that lives off sensations and twisting of facts to fit its political view.

I agree that they're not very clear about some things, like whether they're including stay-at-home moms, but some of the numbers seem a bit surprising regardless.

Or more importantly, their definition of "household". We know from studies that more and more people are living alone, and that is a "household" too. What is the distribution of single vs multi person households, and of the multi person households is the one party a stay at home child carer or not? There are many questions to their methodology.

If that means there are 14m households, then 24% of the households in Britain have nobody working. That seems really high, regardless of who is included.

That's 4.3% and 1.3% of the population respectively.

There are 21,660,475 households in England and Wales according to Census 2001, and 30.0 per cent of these (6.5 million) are one-person households - up from 26.3 per cent in 1991.

From the government statistics website. And of those 30% are single person households. Numbers are from 2001, so the single person household number has risen even higher. Which means that if one of those single person households is unemployed for a greater period, just moved away from home or what not, then they are included in the "households that have "no one working there" stats. Plus a very important thing the article does not define... do they take pensioners into the over all "household" statistic or not?

Kinda misleading article if you ask me.. highly political and highly "foggy" when it comes to facts and sources.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

If its the Daily Mail ill withhold my thoughts on these figures. Chances are its a load of Baloney. The one thing you don't do is make the Daily Mail conduct a survey that involves NUMBERS. They seem to be bad at Maths.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

My thoughts on DailyMail on these issues is similar to those expressed above.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

I'm not really posting it for the Labour v. Tory thing, but rather for the idea that there could be that large of a percentage of the population who has never worked (or hasn't in a long time).

I agree that they're not very clear about some things, like whether they're including stay-at-home moms, but some of the numbers seem a bit surprising regardless.



If that means there are 14m households, then 24% of the households in Britain have nobody working. That seems really high, regardless of who is included.



That's 4.3% and 1.3% of the population respectively.

I spent a month in England around 20 years ago. During that time, I met quite a few folks in Exeter, Bristol, and the Cornwall areas that seemed "proud" of being on "The Dole". :roll:

It hasn't changed every time I've gone back.:lol:
 
Last edited:
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

If its the Daily Mail ill withhold my thoughts on these figures. Chances are its a load of Baloney. The one thing you don't do is make the Daily Mail conduct a survey that involves NUMBERS. They seem to be bad at Maths.

Very bad, as it seems

An analysis of official data shows that three million in England and Wales had no job between 1996 and 2001, while a further two million had never had a job.

Wouldn't that make........2 million who have never had a job?

If, as another poster pointed out, this includes housewives the entire article is devoid of meaning. I'd be interested to see what the stats are on American welfare leaches, but the UK numbers actually seem pretty good
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

I'd be interested to see what the stats are on American welfare leaches, but the UK numbers actually seem pretty good

Indeed.
Call me picky but 2 million out of a population of over 60 million is pretty good ...
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

If its the Daily Mail ill withhold my thoughts on these figures. Chances are its a load of Baloney. The one thing you don't do is make the Daily Mail conduct a survey that involves NUMBERS. They seem to be bad at Maths.
We all know the Daily Mail sucks. The thing is so do many media outlets. The liberals shouldn't get away with attacking the Mail and thinking their outlets like the Guardian and the BBC are much better, even if they are sometimes more subtle and intelligent.

Let's not forget the large readership of the Mail either. It is one of the most popular of all our newspapers. We can't pretend it is some marginal rag that doesn't respond to genuine, mainstream British attitudes.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

The liberals shouldn't get away with attacking the Mail and thinking their outlets like the Guardian and the BBC are much better, even if they are sometimes more subtle and intelligent.

So is The Sun ... doesn't say much about our country when the two most popular newspapers have naked chicks and trash about Jordan ... no wonder we are dumbing down society.

And BBC and Guardian have as much of a agenda in some respects as DailyMail just more subtle but hey, at least as you said it is intelligent.
The difference being BBC information is usually more accurate as they are read by more people online and worldwide and they have the money to ensure it.

I like The Independent
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

And BBC and Guardian have as much of a agenda in some respects as DailyMail just more subtle but hey, at least as you said it is intelligent.
The difference being BBC information is usually more accurate as they are read by more people online and worldwide and they have the money to ensure it.
I won't disagree with that. When I said intelligent though I certainly did not mean their agenda, just how it is expressed.

I like The Independent
Me too, although I tend to read all mass media with a lot of skepticism.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

So is The Sun ... doesn't say much about our country when the two most popular newspapers have naked chicks and trash about Jordan ... no wonder we are dumbing down society.

If it wasn't for page 3 nobody would buy The Sun anyway.

And BBC and Guardian have as much of a agenda in some respects as DailyMail just more subtle but hey, at least as you said it is intelligent.
The difference being BBC information is usually more accurate as they are read by more people online and worldwide and they have the money to ensure it.

I like The Independent

I tend to catch the free newspapers the government gives away at Bus stops and train stations. There really useful and informative. Being a nationalized paper, you cant trust everything you read. But its good enough for me.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

The daily mail specialises in scareing old women and rallying up mean old men.Im pretty sure alot of the people who work there have nothing but contempt for their readers.

I like the times mainly,the guardian can be quite good,the independent is ok but i find some of the columnists annoying.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

If it wasn't for page 3 nobody would buy The Sun anyway.

I tend to catch the free newspapers the government gives away at Bus stops and train stations. There really useful and informative. Being a nationalized paper, you cant trust everything you read. But its good enough for me.

Seems kinda stupid to just buy it for one photo. Playboy would give people more.

Love the Metro.
Pick it up at the station. I read it along with Guardian and Independent.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

Seems kinda stupid to just buy it for one photo. Playboy would give people more.

Love the Metro.
Pick it up at the station. I read it along with Guardian and Independent.

And the London Newspaper i think the other one is called.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

Seems kinda stupid to just buy it for one photo. Playboy would give people more.

Love the Metro.
Pick it up at the station. I read it along with Guardian and Independent.

Metro aint a government newspaper.. its owned by a Swedish corporation and many cities world wide has it.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

The daily mail specialises in scareing old women and rallying up mean old men.Im pretty sure alot of the people who work there have nothing but contempt for their readers.

I like the times mainly,the guardian can be quite good,the independent is ok but i find some of the columnists annoying.
I don't mind the Gruadians content, although I do disagree with a lot of it, I just find it is often not too well written.
 
Re: 5 million have never had a job under Labour, raising fears of a 'Shameless' gener

Metro aint a government newspaper.. its owned by a Swedish corporation and many cities world wide has it.

Thanks for the info mate. News to me. :2razz:
 
Back
Top Bottom