Why Conservatives always fail to tackle unemployment…

One thing that never ceases to amaze me when unemployment rises is that mainstream politicians; especially Conservatives, harp on about getting people back to work. This is a very noble aim and in general the vast majority of those unemployed actually want to get back to work and are not happy about being ‘dependent’ on benefits. This basic fact is ignored as are the structural causes of unemployment which is why Conservative rhetoric and policies are invariably a complete failure when it comes to tackling unemployment. This is why large rises in unemployment are expected under a Cameron-led government and will probably see it be unstable from its very inception.

Conservative legislation invariably makes it easier to dismiss employees; often on spurious grounds. For example, not hitting a sales target after two weeks in a job (incidentally, half of those that did were dismissed for fraudulently hitting it) made my last salary payer a revolving door employer; the kind that prospers in the kind of de-regulated labour market that the Conservatives champion. Instead of what is really to blame; the structural economy (and lack of confidence amoung would-be employers) and instead blames a culture of dependency. It leads to the likes of Tory Rascal making this breathtaking assertion that what keeps people on benefits is;

the realisation that welfare pays better than work for those on lower incomes.

It really does not; there needs to be a better transition system (going from twice weekly benefits to monthly pay can, for example, cause problems) but the above assertion is really complete rubbish. So, what do the Conservatives propose to do? Surprise surprise they see the answer as ‘scrapping centralised bureaucracy’ which they intend to replace with a renamed bureaucracy and in the case of testing incapacity benefit claiments who they are belive are merely work-shy an enlarged one.

So blind the Conservatives to what they are doing that their ‘back to work’ programmes are actually going to be run by the actual people who created the unemployment in the first place; private sector companies alongside charities (who admittedly are less blameless on that score). How is that for a logical contortion? Until the Conservatives actually take into account structural issues their unemployment policies are doomed to failure and the rhetoric about ‘helping’ the unemployed is going to mean the exact opposite.

PS: You can now also find my blog on the ‘Front Bench’ of House of Twits.