John Hemming MP questions Minister about 'massaged' employment figures

1.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 30th Nov 2005

John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley

Figures obtained by John Hemming show that the proportion of people in Birmingham Yardley coming off Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and moving into work has has been steadily falling over the last 6 years.

· The proportion of people in Birmingham Yardley moving from JSA into work (compared to other destinations) is steadily falling, from a high of 48.2% in September 2000 to 34.4% in September 2005.

· The total number of people moving into work in Birmingham Yardley dropped from 145 to 105 between September 1999 and September 2005.

· The remainder of those moving off JSA either failed to sign on or moved onto other benefits (e.g. incapacity benefit, income support).

John Hemming said "The claimant count for the country as a whole has now risen for the ninth month in a row, but the Government are under pressure to keep unemployment as low as possible. Something strange has been happening to the figures over the last six years. We assume that people come off Jobseekers Allowance because they find work; however that is proving increasingly rare. If only 34.4% of people coming off JSA are now moving into jobs, then what is happening to the rest?"

Mr. Hemming further said "The last Tory government was damaged by the revelation that people were being pushed off the unemployment roll and onto incapacity benefit to massage the numbers in their favour. We need to look very carefully at what is going on to make sure that the same sleight of hand is not now happening again. I have written to the Minister of State for Work asking her to provide the Government's response to this very serious charge."

In September 1999 46.8% of people coming off JSA were moving into jobs, by September 2001 the figure had fallen to 43.7% and to 34.4% in September 2005