… “On closer investigation it is also apparent that the larger than average reductions in unemployment in the places hit hardest by welfare reform also happened in previous economic upturns. This makes it impossible to attribute recent trends to welfare reform.”
While the jobless total is lower than it was in 2012, the report pointed out “in the UK economic growth accelerated from mid-2012 onwards after a period of stagnation in the wake of the 2008/9 recession, at much the same time as several of the welfare reforms took effect”, adding that it was “wrong to assume” that the rise in employment and the fall in unemployment could be “attributed in whole or in part to welfare reform”.
East Devon Watch 