Just how does Rishi Sunak intend to grow the economy? It’s the second of his five pledges; last week’s Budget was full of Tory talk about the virtues of getting people off benefits and into work.
But the data shows a rather different picture: five million are on benefits while mass immigration – now running at record levels – is once again the only major factor expanding the workforce. The OBR envisages this problem continuing, with immigration running at near-record numbers while Brits claim sickness benefit at the rate of about 5,000 a day. An odd and expensive economic model – some data out today puts it into more perspective.
The total on out-of-work benefits – 5.1 million or 13 per cent of the workforce – is not a figure the government likes to talk about. It’s buried in the DWP StatXplore database (published on The Spectator data hub). It forms the backdrop to the other problem: a worker shortage with 1.1
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