Unemployment is another grim milestone, while earnings hold up in real economy

Commenting on the earnings and unemployment figures published today (Wednesday) Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Roger McKenzie said:

“This is another grim milestone in the return of mass unemployment to the UK. And it will get worse before it gets better as unemployment always persists even after a recovery starts.

“But this unemployment has not just been made in Britain, and requires an international response. It is beginning to look like the G20 summit may not agree the co-ordinated boost to the world economy called for by Barack Obama and Gordon Brown.

International summits may seem a long way from the dole queues, but without such a stimulus unemployment will go higher and last longer. We need to put every pressure on world leaders to work together to fight the recession.”

TUC research showing that the unemployed outnumber vacancies by 20 to 1 is available at http://www.tuc.org.uk/welfare/tuc-16119-f0.cfm

Earnings hold up in real economy

Roger McKenzie continued:

"Today's record low earnings figures are not what they seem. The big fall is almost entirely explained by the collapse in city bonuses since last year. In the real economy earnings are still on average increasing by 3.5 per cent. This distortion shows just how ridiculous bonuses were last year, even when we were on the road to recession.
"It is entirely understandable that workers in companies under threat in the recession are settling for modest pay increases or even freezes. But it would be extremely bad news for the rest of the economy if wages didn't continue to rise. A general wage freeze would simply encourage consumers to spend less, and many companies can well afford to pay a reasonable increase."