tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post6617006356730503157..comments2023-10-16T15:59:02.445+01:00Comments on NEIL HARDING: Tom Freeman Explains Public Debt.Neil Hardinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01333739272733802133noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-32324947600769535112009-08-18T15:46:15.553+01:002009-08-18T15:46:15.553+01:00Rob, there are about 2m people on incapacity/disab...Rob, there are about 2m people on incapacity/disability related benefits etc. Which is slightly less than there were in 1997. <br /><br />The Tories undoubtedly encouraged people off JSA onto disability benefits to reduce figures, but the number on benefit is definitely still lower than in 1997, which is not the impression you would get from reading the media. If this is beyond living memory for you then you must be younger than 17 or have had a poor memory when younger.<br /><br />Blair did not massage the figures, in fact he did the reverse, which is how the media can now claim things are worse. The government changed their preferred method of counting unemployment from merely counting JSA claimants to the internationally comparable LFS which is much higher. The media are deliberately fusing the two to give a mislaeading impression.<br /><br />PS. A wife or husband can claim JSA for 6 months no matter what their spouse's earnings or their own savings as long as they have paid their NI contributions and not voluntarily left a job (which is why it is called contributions based JSA).Neil Hardinghttp://neilharding.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-32911215207776383322009-08-18T08:34:40.511+01:002009-08-18T08:34:40.511+01:00OK tell me how unemployment is misunderstood by th...OK tell me how unemployment is misunderstood by the media, are you saying we have less unemployed or more. If you use the figures before Thatcher and Blair cheated these , we are now looking at an unemployment reaching close to 6 Million, people who cannot get JSA because a wife/ husband is working or they have compensation for losing the job, or they just do not bother signing on. 2.44 million unemployed in the biggest recession in my living history, and we have 2.44 unemployed pull the other one.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05186557603493331701noreply@blogger.com