Good Society
It’s time to end NEETs, but not by scrapping support for young people
Despite this morning’s Daily Telegraph front page headline, IPPR is not proposing to 'scrap benefits for under 25s'.
Graeme Cooke
Graeme writes on welfare and labour market policy. He is head of the Open Left project at Demos and was expert advisor to the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions between 2008 and 2009.
New Tory idea has been law for 15 years
A new Tory poster says "Let's cut benefits for those who refuse work". The policy has been law for 15 years and shows the lack of imagination on welfare reform.
Labour market in holding pattern
Unemployment has unexpectedly fallen. The labour market effectively remains in a holding pattern with encouraging headline numbers, but worry underlying trends.
Latest unemployment figures show vacancies up and redundancies down
Today’s unemployment figures show the labour market has stood up to the recession much more strongly than in the past, with vacancies up and redundancies down.
The Express are wrong on housing benefit dependency
The Express reports that housing benefit payments will rise this year. The rise is due to the recession and rents, not a "culture of benefits dependency".
Today’s surprise employment stats should be treated with caution
The JSA claimant count fell in November for the first time since early 2008. But the good news should be treated with caution - the worst may still be to come.