interestrateripoff Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Garbage in, garbage out: our jobs figures are not working any more It is very hard to work out what is going on in the UK labour market because the quality of the statistics is basically junk, says David Blanchflower It's OK Britain isn't working any more it's all just debt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wurzel Of Highbridge Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 The quality of most of the jobs is junk too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderpup Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Shouldn't higher employment be viewed as a failure of productivity anyway? In a highly developed economy at the cutting edge of technology less jobs is what you want to see, as those in work become more productive. This notion that the more bodies you have working in the economy the better off the country is seems a bit 19th century to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowflux Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Shouldn't higher employment be viewed as a failure of productivity anyway? In a highly developed economy at the cutting edge of technology less jobs is what you want to see, as those in work become more productive. This notion that the more bodies you have working in the economy the better off the country is seems a bit 19th century to me. I've often thought the same. I'd have thought one of the main objects of progress was to get people off the treadmill rather than getting more people on to the treadmill. But then I'm not a member of the controlling elite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 In the past the vision of the future was always a 'leisure society.' advancements meaning less work and more time to enjoy life. To achieve this idyll productivity gains must mean lower costs of living, and fairness in the sharing of those gains. The reality had been enslavement and ever greater charges on living. How did the latter happen and not the former? Why must we be 'hardworking?' Why should we need top-ups just to get by? Some might think freeing the people is not a good idea - not enough money in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderpup Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 I used to read a lot of dystopian sci- fi as a kid- some of it is now starting to look like documentary- Philip Dick was the most insightful- he realized that while technology would develop and evolve, humans would remain the same monkey brained morons they always were. Any species smart enough to dream up- and then actually build- weapons of mass destruction is a walking contradiction anyway- why would any species that clever be that stupid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shindigger Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Garbage in, garbage out: our jobs figures are not working any more It is very hard to work out what is going on in the UK labour market because the quality of the statistics is basically junk, says David Blanchflower It's OK Britain isn't working any more it's all just debt. Is this finally the conversion of the last **** to ramp a bubble? I had a row with Blanchflower on Twitter a while back. Would he be so gobby if he was part of Browns wrecking crew in power now? I totally agree with him though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybong Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) The figures are indeed garbage in garbage out - but his criticisms are tinkering around the edges. He seems to be implying that although the official figures are garbage they aren't that far out. No - the effective real unemployment figures are almost an order of magnitude higher than the single figures unemployment rate he's describing. Edited May 10, 2014 by billybong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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