Could someone explain unemployment figures to me, please?
Discussion
Looking at this news article, how can there be 2.45 million unemployed people, but 4.7 million claiming jobseeker's allowance? 

Kermit power said:
Looking at this news article, how can there be 2.45 million unemployed people, but 4.7 million claiming jobseeker's allowance? 


The article says that there are 1.52 million people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance not 4.7 million.
The difference caused by some people being unemployed but not entitled to claim Jobseeker's Allowance.
Kermit power said:
Looking at this news article, how can there be 2.45 million unemployed people, but 4.7 million claiming jobseeker's allowance? 
Complete guess but isn't it income-based, so you could have a part-time job as a cleaner and get some JSA just not the full amount (£50 a week?).
More annoyingly the figure is always over 2m unemployed and more claiming benefits but still approx 500k Eastern Europeans have come here and found jobs.
It makes me sick.....the benefit culture is becoming and epidemic and is dragging us all down. The problem is scum breed like rabbits.
It makes me sick.....the benefit culture is becoming and epidemic and is dragging us all down. The problem is scum breed like rabbits.
ralphrj said:
Kermit power said:
Looking at this news article, how can there be 2.45 million unemployed people, but 4.7 million claiming jobseeker's allowance? 


The article says that there are 1.52 million people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance not 4.7 million.
The difference caused by some people being unemployed but not entitled to claim Jobseeker's Allowance.

OdramaSwimLaden said:
More annoyingly the figure is always over 2m unemployed and more claiming benefits but still approx 500k Eastern Europeans have come here and found jobs.
It makes me sick.....the benefit culture is becoming and epidemic and is dragging us all down. The problem is scum breed like rabbits.
It makes me sick.....the benefit culture is becoming and epidemic and is dragging us all down. The problem is scum breed like rabbits.

Don't forget that 'disabled' are not added to the unemployment list, neither are students so the figure is probably much higher. The ONS reckons there are 10million disabled in the UK, quite a high number considering what we spend on the NHS eh? Nothing to do with the last government encouraging people to take on disability benefits rather than unemployment benefits to fudge employment figures of course.....
Tsippy said:

Don't forget that 'disabled' are not added to the unemployment list, neither are students so the figure is probably much higher. The ONS reckons there are 10million disabled in the UK, quite a high number considering what we spend on the NHS eh? Nothing to do with the last government encouraging people to take on disability benefits rather than unemployment benefits to fudge employment figures of course.....
Office of National Statistics said:
The number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 increased by 32,000 over the quarter to reach 9.33 million.
This is 23.2% of the population aged between 16 and 64.The economically inactive fall into 6 areas:
1. Students
2. Retired
3. Long term sick/injured
4. Looking after family/home
5. "Discouraged" workers
6. Other
condor said:
You should have had 'unemployed with savings over £16K' as a category.
They are not part of the economically inactive count. They will be part of the unemployment count, namely part of the 0.93 million people that are in the 2.45 million unemployment but not on jobseeker's allowance.The total population breaks down into the following categories:
1. Employed 29.28 million (a)
2. Unemployed 2.45 million (a)
3. Economically Inactive 9.33 million (a)
4. Children 11.5 million (b)
5. OAPs 9.8 million (b)
Sources:
(a) todays ONS unemployment figures
(b) ONS Key Population and Vital Statistics 2007
condor said:
How would the ONS know that someone is unemployed if they're not claiming any benefits or signing to say they're unemployed? I'd have thought they were classed as economically inactive as they're not paying tax or NI.
Through the Labour Force Survey (LFS).The 2.45 million figure for unemployment is an estimate that comes from the LFS of people who are unemployed but looking for work. This method of calculation is an internationally agreed measure that allows unemployment rates in different countries to be compared.
The 1.52 million figure is the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance.
If someone is out of work but not receiving Jobseekers Allowance then where they appear in the statistics depends on what answer they give when surveyed. If they say they are unemployed but looking for work then they are part of the 2.45 million unemployed. If they say they are unemployed and not looking for work then they are part of the 9.33 million economically inactive.
For my own education what would a person as follows be categorised as.
21
Living at home
Looking for work following redundancy
Not eligible for JSA due to not pissing it away down the pub / foreign holidays/ new phones / etc but saving up to go to uni thus too much in savings.
What do they class as?
21
Living at home
Looking for work following redundancy
Not eligible for JSA due to not pissing it away down the pub / foreign holidays/ new phones / etc but saving up to go to uni thus too much in savings.
What do they class as?
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