Blogs

Mapping the recession

27 October 2008

By Paul Miller

It goes without saying that the recession will impact disproportionately. The G-View map here shows the distribution of those claiming job seekers allowance across England and Wales (where yellow areas are the worst). Although not shown here, the really sad thing is that it’s unlikely that the same map drawn during the last major slowdown would have looked a lot different.  

And within the UK, the differences are equally stark.  Birmingham has the highest rate of JSA claimants and the map below shows the most severely hit community in that city, where the rate is more than 23%. The map shows the LSOA's in that part of Birmingham which houses the most severaly affected by worklesses (the area coloured yellow).

Getting at policies that work

I spoke at an LGIU workshop on worklessness last week. There were around 100 people there. The final speaker was James Clapperson the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. He spoke about the need for conditionality – the need for there to be conditions set for those claiming benefit.

The reaction from the floor was a touch hostile. This is surprising because I don’t think Tory policy is a million miles from that of the current Government. So, what to do?

Strategies to help the workless into work must (a) be locally focussed and (b) make a connection between the jobs that are available and the skills that are available.  I don’t think this is as hard to do as is sometimes suggested. It requires detailed analysis of WHERE the jobless are; what they say they can DO; what the skills required by businesses are – expressed in VACANCIES and finally some knowledge about the business base locally and close by.  

With this analysis it’s possible to develop really operational skills strategies, transport strategies to get the workless to where the work is, and finally strategies to engage local business.

And of course, all of this is accessible in seconds on G-View!

Permalink: http://www.gavurin.com/recession (copy'n'paste)

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