NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release Wednesday 01 December 2004
STUC calls on the Chancellor to tackle economic inactivity
Whilst the STUC acknowledges the UK Government's unprecedented success in achieving record employment levels, the trade union movement is increasingly concerned at the high levels of economic inactivity in Scotland.
The UK has one of the best employment records in the EU but one of the worst when it comes to people outside the active labour market who want a job. There are 688,000 people in Scotland who are economically inactive; the majority of which are over 50 and on incapacity benefit. Of these 688,000 working age people, a third (33.7%) want to work.
Commenting on the eve of the Pre-Budget Report, Stephen Boyd, STUC Assistant Secretary, said:
"Economic inactivity continues to remain a blight on the Government's employment record. For too long, the inactive have been regarded as a social problem rather than a reservoir of potential. Reducing working age inactivity will help sustain the UK's impressive employment growth."
"The STUC urges the UK Government to act to counter these high inactivity levels by announcing new measures in this year's Pre- Budget Report to help those who want to work get back into the labour market. We are encouraged to see that the `Pathways to Work' pilots have already doubled the numbers of those on incapacity benefits returning to work. Now is the time to extend these pilots and help even more people."
ENDS
For further details, please contact:
Tel: 0141 337 8100 / Fax: 0141 337 8101 www.stuc.org.uk
Stephen Boyd
Notes to Editors
The Scottish Executive's Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2003/04 shows that economic inactive is a highly regionalised problem. 22% (688,000) of the Scottish working age population are economically inactive. This rises to 30.1% in areas such as Glasgow City, which has one of the highest rates of economic inactivity in the UK.
The DWP announced on Tuesday 30th November 2004 that the `Pathways to Work' pilots have doubled the numbers of incapacity benefit claimants getting jobs through Jobcentre Plus compared to last year. One of the pilot areas is in Renfrewshire. For full details, see the DWP press release: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2004/nov/fra m-ib301104.asp