600,000 Jobless In U.K.

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32383, 24 August 1970, Page 13

600,000 Jobless In U.K.

'j (N.Z P.A. Staff Correspondent) [ LONDON, Aug. 23. ; Unemployment looks as though it might be- . come a major problem in Britain this winter. i Figures released in London 'show that the August total of unemployed at more than 600,000, the highest, number out of work for this month for more than 30 years. ' What has really aroused the British press, however, and ; led to a spate of editorials in Friday morning's national /newspapers, is a statement by the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress ’■(T.U.C.) (Mr Vic Feather), that by January or February ' *he figure will look more like 1750,000. Mr Feather said that the j country presently had the

I worst of all possible worlds—high unemployment, inflation and stagnation. “These figures present an appalling waste in economic as well as social terms," be said. “They show, too, that a pool of unemployment does nothing to solve the nation’s economic problems, including the problem of inflation and international competition." The Department of Employment and Productivity blamed the rise in the August figures on school leavers who have found work but not yet started.

This incurred the ire of the “Guardian," which in Its main leader, accuses the D.E.P. of evading the issue says that the conclusion reached by the authorities that the best way to treat the problem is to do nothing about it is “the precise reverse of the truth." The facts are, says the “Guardian,” that not only is the total figure of unemployed worse than during the recession of 1962-1963 “but unemployment among men is dramatically worse. The present level is 18 per cent above the 1983 average for total unemployment, and the level of unemployment among men. is now 35 per cent higher than in the worst previous post-war recession.” It is necessary to labour the facts about unemployment, says the “Guardian." because it is becoming a growing and persistent scandal which no longer responds, it seems, to traditional methods of managing the economy. The new meaning of the figures is not that they may be ignored, but the problem needs new study. The “Financial Times" sees little cheer in unemployment figures and says that judging by the state of the economy, the problem will probably get worse before it gets better. “Industrial production did rise marginally in June but the gain only brought it back to the. level at the beginning of the year,” says the "Financial Times," "taking a halfyearly comparison, the rise in the first half of 1970 as against the second half of last year has been less than a half per cent. Given tight money and stagnant output, unemployment was bound to- increase.” The “Daily Telegraph”

• blames the poor economic i situation on what It calls the “outrageous wage dei demands” of the trade unions : The answer, according to the i “Daily Telegraph,” must lie i in Government restriction of i the growth of money supply, iso that employers cannot, [ even if they wish to do so, I concede' to wage demands. "The T.U.C, is right to look for economic growth as the [ eventual cure for unemploy- ; nient: it has a more immediate responsibility to bring home to trade unionists the connection between rapid : wage inflation and escalating prices and our other economic ills.” The tabloid, the “Daily i Sketch,” touches on what has become an increasingly widi ely discussed topic in Britain—the quiet style of. government being pursued by . the Prime Minister (Mr i Heath). I The “Daily Sketch” says: “Britain is in a mess, and a . lot of people—including a lot , of Conservative supporters—- [ are worried because the Gov- . ernment seems to be doing . so little about it. “Mr Heath knows this. But . he has deliberately refused to rush mack to London and go through the empty motions of frantic activity. “That was Harold Wilson’s style, and Mr Heath despises ; it. What's needed, he believes :is a long-term strategy, not ’ short-term gimmicks.”

The “Daily Sketch” says that this is all very well, but warns that when the solutions to problems are forthcoming they had better work. Another tabloid, the “Sun" calls the unemployment figures "a scandal” and says they are fast becoming a bigger danger than inflation. The “Sun” is also upset about the effect of inflation on the “marginal” standard of living population and points to an income data services survey which shows that these families are growing steadily poorer. . “It is intolerable that the poor should get poorer,” says the “Sun.’! “The short-tbrm solution is a minimum wage, guaranteed by the State. The long-term solution, to, this problem and to unemployment, is an expanding econ-omy-seven at the risk of inflation."