Borough is one of highest in London
The government's announcement of the biggest quarterly rise in employment on record, driven by the private sector, is welcome news. However, the fact that these jobs are not being filled by people on benefits underlines the need for urgent reform, Employment Minister Chris Grayling said.
The figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that while the number of people in employment rose by 286,000 on the quarter, the nearly five million people claiming the three main out of work benefits has not improved significantly, with a slight increase this month in the numbers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Claims from Ealing were 8,705 which is far higher than the lowest claims from Kingston on Thames (2,029) or from the City of London (87) but rather better than Tower Hamlets and Lambeth which both list over 10,000 people on benefits. However, the figure is far higher than neighbouring borough Hammersmith and Fulham's (4,857).
Chris Grayling said:
“Today’s jump in employment, driven by the private sector, is good news but it doesn’t disguise the fact that the system the Government inherited is failing to get people on welfare into these jobs. It is neither fair for the nearly five million people on benefits, nor the taxpayer who supports them.“That’s why we are pressing ahead with retesting everyone claiming incapacity benefits and introducing our new Work Programme, which will give people the tailored support they need to move them into sustained work.”
Latest DWP figures show that the number of people claiming incapacity benefits (ESA/IB) is estimated to be 2.605 million in July, with lone parents claiming income support at 675,000.
From next year jobseekers will benefit from the new Work Programme which will be designed to give people the right help when they need it, treating them as individuals rather than by what benefit they happen to be on.
This month’s Labour Force Survey covers May to July 2010. The number of vacancies and the number of redundancies both fell this quarter. There were 142,000 redundancies in May to July, down 31 thousand on the previous quarter and 90 thousand on the previous year.
September 16, 2010