numbers

here are some numbers for you.
unemployment is set to rech 2.85 million in 2012.
on average 23 people apply for each job that is advertised. john salt, director of totaljobs, see the signs as being pretty grim.

remember when this deficit malarky kicked in and the key aspect of the public sector cuts was that the private sector would step up and employ people. well it seems that between july and september of this year 67,000 public sector jobs have gone.
in the same time 5,000 new private sector jobs have been created.
well i can see a bit of a problem there.

so we have people being made redundant.
we don't have new jobs being created and we have too many people applying for the same jobs.

while we are at it let's throw in another set of figures. according to recent government research 1 in 3 of those claiming benefits have some sort of criminal conviction. this, as we know, means they are even more employable (just a hint of sarcasm there).
chris graying, employment minister (and what a job he is doing - talk about fiddles and fire)says it 'paints an alarming picture' - yes it does - he goes on to say this is why britain needs a 'rehabilitation revolution' (no i hadn't heard this one before, but it is part of the con/dem strategy, perhaps an offshoot of the compassionate conservatism they keep talking about). mr grayling goes on to mention that an element of this is getting the old lags back into work and a new programme for this will be announced in the new year.

and to quote nick clegg, it will make all the difference.

so that is problem families having to have one member of them in work in order to get an intervention.
that is youth unemployment getting a kick up the arse to get those 18-25 year olds into work.
add in the ex-offenders who need help and encouragement to find work.
that is three programmes that are, in theory, all trying to do the best for the people they are designed for and all with the express purpose of getting people back in to work. all of them very noble projects.
except for one thing.
and here the, to misquote led zep, question remains the same.
so mr. graying.
so mr. osborne.
so mr. clegg.
so mr. cameron.
so mr. duncan-smith.
the question is this: where are the jobs?
you see for me knowing where all the jobs are and where they are coming from makes all the difference.

it makes all the difference to me, to the youth who are unemployed, to the problem family you are saying can only have help if one of them is working, it makes all the difference to ex-offender who wants to work but his record prevents him from finding a job.
the answer will make a difference to all those on disability that you are now saying are fit to work. a difference to all those you say are not entitled to benefits.

that is the question we want to know the answer to: where are all the jobs.

so what is the answer?