Unemployment - Ministers must stop the blame game.

Earlier today, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest unemployment figures. The statistics show that unemployment has risen to 2.62 million, but more worryingly, the youth unemployment rate has hit the 1 million mark. Overall, this means that unemployment has increased to 8.3%.

In the finest tradition of this Tory led government, the Employment Minister, Chris Grayling blamed someone else for the worst figures in 17 years – This time, it wasn’t the previous Labour government, the weather or a Royal wedding, but the economic crisis in the Eurozone.

It appears that Ministers, in their attempt to spin their way out of these disastrous figures, have forgotten the first rule of economics, that unemployment is a lagging indicator of the economy, and so cannot be blamed on a financial crisis that only started during the summer.

Mr Grayling’s assertion that the Eurozone is to blame is a work of pure fiction. The government’s own statistics show that unemployment was going up before the economic crisis in Europe started, showing a rise from 2.45 million in the three months from March to May, to 2.57 million from June to August.

So once again the government fails to take responsibility for its own actions. The economic crisis in the Eurozone will inevitably have an impact on the UK, but David Cameron and his Ministers need to start taking responsibility for the decisions that they make and stop blaming everyone else for their failing economic policies.