Scotsman.com
A report claims there are 160,000 "hidden unemployed" in Scotland.
Revealed: grim truth of Scots unemployment
EDDIE BARNES POLITICAL EDITOR
THE true figure for unemployment in Scotland is 250,000 - almost three
times the official number - according to a groundbreaking report.
Research conducted by one of Britain's leading authorities on the
welfare state claims there are 160,000 "hidden unemployed" in Scotland,
many of them forced on to sickness benefits through lack of work.
They outnumber by almost two to one the official unemployment claimant
count of 88,000. The 160,000 make up around half of the total number of
Scots presently on incapacity benefit, the £78 a week payment given to
those who are deemed too ill or disabled to be required to look for work.
However, the report says this group, largely made up of less skilled
workers, women and older workers, should be counted as among the
unemployed, arguing that they are capable of working and, in a more
vigorous economy, would have nothing to stop them finding a job.
The report was written by Professor Steve Fothergill from Sheffield
Hallam University for Scottish Enterprise, Scotland's job creation
agency. Fothergill rejects claims that those on incapacity benefit are
"malingerers", arguing that people on the payment do have genuine health
problems. However, he insists that they are not so unwell as to be
prevented from working.
"What has happened is that in the competition for jobs, less healthy
workers, many of whom are also older and less well qualified, have lost
out," he says.
"Sometimes they were the workers made redundant in the great wave of job
losses that affected industries such as coal, steel and heavy
engineering. Sometimes they lost out indirectly as the ex-miners and
ex-steelworkers took jobs that would have gone to other men and women in
the local area."
Consequently, such people have slid on to incapacity benefit, which
offers a more generous and longer-term income than other forms of support.
He adds: "Where jobs are in plentiful supply, as in parts of southern
England, many people with health problems and disabilities do continue
to work and employers can't afford to be so fussy."
Fothergill's research works out the numbers of hidden unemployed by
benchmarking the number of people on sickness benefits in individual
areas against the figures in other regions where there is near full
employment. It also factors in regional trends of genuine illness to
estimate how many people on sickness benefit are genuinely incapable of
keeping a job.
By far the largest number of hidden unemployed in Scotland were found in
Glasgow. Fothergill estimates that some 39,100 incapacity benefit
claimants could work, and should therefore be on the official
unemployment register. The figure represents 10% of the entire working
age population of the city.
The figures come as ministers consult on a welfare reform green paper
which is expected to propose major changes to the sickness benefit
system in Britain. The government is also extending a 'Pathways to Work'
pilot scheme designed to encourage those on incapacity benefit to find jobs.
Responding to the claims of hidden unemployment, Scotland Office
minister David Cairns said: "There is nothing hidden about it. Through
the Pathways to Work scheme and the Welfare Reform green paper we are
focusing all our efforts on getting these people back to work."
David Ruffley, the shadow minister for welfare reform, said: "It is all
very well the government telling IB claimants about all the support they
can get, but there are too few jobs to go around, particularly in
unemployment black spots."
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "We are
committed to ensuring that people, where possible, do not spend a
lifetime on incapacity benefit and we are working towards giving people
the support and training they need to have fair access to the labour
market."
Related topic
* Unemployment
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