Government’s economic mirage as election approaches

Government creates economic mirage as election approaches

Simon Carter

Ahead of next year’s general election, Tory Chancellor George Osborne and Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander have been regaling the mainstream media with tales of government success in increasing employment, in an expanding economy.

They have, however, remained silent on the reported fall in average earnings in the April to June quarter which means that household incomes continue to be squeezed.

And far from the coalition’s four year-long austerity measures turning the economy around, again there is no government response to the fact that the ‘recovery’ has been the slowest and shallowest in modern British history.

Moreover, the Con-Dems’ much vaunted economic growth appears confined to the service sector rather than manufacturing. And as the main eurozone economies stagnate it’s a racing certainty that Britain’s pitifully weak manufacturing base will once again contract, shedding more jobs

An examination of the employment statistics also leaves little for the government to crow about as nearly half the increase in jobs (408,000) over the last year has come from self-employment. This group now accounts for a staggering 4.59 million workers. And we’re not talking about large numbers of millionaire entrepreneurs but instead many low paid, precarious workers unable to secure permanent, well-paid employment. In December 2013 the Joseph Rowntree trust reported that these workers had suffered a fall in income of 31% over the last 12 years.

And while youth unemployment has officially fallen to 16.9% from 21.4% over the last 18 months it is still higher than the pre-crisis 13.8% in 2008.

It seems that that the biggest growth has been in government propaganda!