The Recession and Coventry

Talking to a lorry driver from Coventry after the L'Pool game at Anfield last night and he was saying that people who have lived in Coventry for years are moving out as things are desperate workwise mainly and life in general. He said that there is that many people on benefits, that there are 5/6 Poundwise shops in the city which surprised us but as he stated there is virtually no manufacturing like there used to be in Coventry and no new businesses coming in and he was thinking of jacking it in and moving to Wales with his wife as she had family there and he said he was offered a job lorry driving and had virtually decided to move and that was after living in Cov. for 15 years

I don't believe that it's worse than we saw in the 70's. The closure of the airport has been seen by some as the final nail in the coffin, though I'm not so sure.

What we need to remember is that in the UK manufacturing has all but gone, we are now a nation of service industries. This is reflected in Coventry's make-up.

I don't have to hand the benefit claimant figures, but I'll wager that we're not far off the national average.

Add to that that Coventry is a political football....

I think you'll find the people most likely to be made redundant in the current recession, older workers whose health has been wrecked by a lifetime of manual labour, don't actually qualify for benefits under new assessment rules? To make things worse, many age-related benefits such as pension credit and attendance allowance are also being phased out from next year.

I think you'll find the people most likely to be made redundant in the current recession, older workers whose health has been wrecked by a lifetime of manual labour, don't actually qualify for benefits under new assessment rules? To make things worse, many age-related benefits such as pension credit and attendance allowance are also being phased out from next year.

Taken from the ONS http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=12

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count), in November 2009, decreased by 6,300 on the month to reach 1.63 million. This is the first monthly fall in the claimant count since February 2008.

So once again, this will drive the local offices to drive people off JSA and onto anything else they can, masking the reality. Isn't this why we had a spike in disability claims a few years back?

Not a true comparison, but the ONS claims the UK as a whole has an unemployment rate of about 8% (October 2009) The local council claimed that Coventry was running just under 5% (January 2009)

Rebbonk, one thing I have learned over the 12 years that Labour have graciously given us their wisdom and subsequent actions is not to take one blind bit of notice of their figures on Employment and its consequences that affects "Whose skimming public money from JSA".
Last Wednesday, as is the norm, I usually make PMQ on the box my "Lets have a Laugh" interlude of the day .This week was the crowning glory for the PM,who was trying to save the world like he saved the worlds finances a short time ago, his words at the "Hot Air Box" in the MPs Expenses Pay-Out Emporium a short time ago. He was very fortunate in have the Deputy Dog Female, whose name escapes me , available to take questions from the Opposition. William Hague asked a question of her,which was relevant to what was being discussed and then you could see the look and posture change as she dodged his question and said I thought the Right Honorable Gentleman would have made a statement re the substantial fall in the people claiming JSA of approx 6000" It was apparent that Mr Hague was bemused and went to offer a reply but Speaker of the Asylum,in words that were well chosen, told her to sit down and shut the f..k up . I cannot wait till this American style Election programme gets aired next year on TV
Sorry Rebbonk/Guys for the Scouse way of putting things but if we did not have these moments in our lives, it would be a dull world

There are a number of reasons why unemployed people don't claim JobSeeker's Allowance. One is that older workers in particular resent being treated like a five year old who's broken the school rules. Many would rather live off their own savings than submit to the convoluted and humiliating claims process. They continue to sign on in order to claim Class 1 national insurance contributions but are not counted in the official statistics. The amount paid to jobseekers is so small in any case it is not worth claiming for short periods of unemployment. There are large numbers of people who don't qualify for JobSeekers Allowance due to mental or physical problems, but don't qualify for sickness benefit either due to new qualifying rules.

As highlighted in a recent TV documentary there are thousands of people in unpaid 'work placement' programs who are not counted in the official statistics. The person stacking the shelves at your local supermarket may well be one of these? £74 Billion has so far been paid to the private companies running these schemes and the Tories have promised to expand the program further if they win the election.

Sorry Rebbonk/Guys for the Scouse way of putting things but if we did not have these moments in our lives, it would be a dull world

Not to worry, I spent quite a bit of time in Liverpool...I understand.

You cannot blame Gordon Brown or the labour Government about Coventry, any thing wrong with Coventry should be Directed at the people in the Council Tory Party,(especially in Finance) who are complete liars with there figures, and also a lot more that I will refrain from saying, and as for the employment scenario, that has been set up to finance some of these peoples companys, well that is a different matter, I think they are called Agencys