UK unemployment hits 17 year high

The latest shocking unemployment figures provide grim
evidence of the real affects of the crisis and the measures being taken by the
Coalition government to “resolve” it. Women and youth have again been hit
hardest.

The new unemployment figures – covering the last three
months of 2011 – show that those numbers out of work now stand at 2.67 million, a rate
of 8.4%, the highest for seventeen years. Women have been particularly
affected; they make up two-thirds of the rise of 48,000 now on the dole. Women account for 1.1million of those
out of work, the highest such figure for other two decades. Over 22,000 of those added to the total
figures this time are also in the 16 to 24-year age range.

It is expected that over three quarters of those who will
lose their jobs in the public sector in the next year will be women. It should be noted that benefit cuts
will also hit women particularly hard.
The government’s hope that private sector jobs would replace public
sector ones is a receding fantasy. In fact, layoff and shutdowns are continuing
with new closures being reported every week. The best they can offer is
low-paid, temporary and part-time jobs.

Capitalists are continuing to shed jobs
to protect profits. Where this happens unions should demand the opening of the
books so we can see the real situation and see who is grabbing all the cash.
Bosses who think they can run off with nice fat profits at our expense should
be told – share out the work with no loss of pay! That will wipe the smiles off
their faces.

The job prospects for young people also remain
desperate. A new report by the
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank shows the grim mood of
youth today. The report, ‘ Young People and Savings’, looked at the opinions of
over 1,500 young people aged 16 – 29, all earning less than £21,000 a year at
best. The results revealed the
following:

Around 47% do not feel financially secure against just
29% who do.
Only 28% thought they would be better off than their
parents – 53% said they would be worse off.
41% worry about their monthly costs.
50% worry about their job prospects – only 27% do not.
25% have no savings at all. An additional 10% have
just £100 in the bank!
30% have debts of over £10,000.

These responses tended to become more downbeat the
lower down the pay scale they were with unemployed youth having the least
optimistic outlook.

We see here the real face of Britain with working
class people being hit hardest by the capitalist system. Women and youth have been targeted. The
IPPR report shows how hope is fading away from the youth – traditionally one of
the most optimistic sections of society. When they give up, you know things are
bad.

The Tories have nothing to say on this other than keep
going with the cuts. The best that the Labour leadership can come up with in
response is – do the same but just a bit slower. Indeed the Blairite
backstabbers have been hard at work making sure that the leadership spell out
clearly to the City of London that, should they win the next election, they
will take similar “hard measures” to shore up this rotten system. There are no
other “acceptable” options under capitalism and none should be expected. Anyone waiting for a more humane
capitalism to arrive will have a very long and fruitless wait indeed.

The time has come to change course –
workers must push for Labour to fight the Coalition attacks with clear
socialist policies. The unions need to rise up and grab control of the
situation and direct the movement along a socialist course. The reorganisation of the world of work
based on a socialist plan of production under workers control and management
would create the resources to solve all the problems of society. The working
week could be immediately reduced, unemployment wiped out and a living wage paid
to all.

Here is the basis for a real future that would give hope to all those
who now find themselves on the capitalist scrapheap.