A report said that even on favourable assumptions about a resumption (and acceleration) in the pre-recession decline in the number of benefit recipients, there was little hope that claimant rates in the weakest local economies would be reduced to acceptable levels by 2020. There was a powerful case for locally targeted job creation schemes as an integral part of efforts to bring down claimant numbers.
Source: Christina Beatty, Steve Fothergill, Tony Gore and Ryan Powell, Tackling Worklessness in Britain's Weaker Local Economies, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research/Sheffield Hallam University
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper provided a series of recommendations for the integration of social impacts into the official cost-benefit analysis framework for employment programmes.
Source: Daniel Fujiwara, The Department for Work and Pensions Social Cost- Benefit Analysis Framework: Methodologies for estimating and incorporating the wider social and economic impacts of work in cost- benefit analysis of employment programmes, Working Paper 86, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper said that there were potential economic benefits associated with migration, especially to fill gaps in the labour market – where there were shortages of workers, whether high- or low-skilled. Although there might be costs to particular groups, there was little evidence of an overall negative impact on jobs or wages.
Source: Jonathan Wadsworth, Immigration and the UK Labour Market: The evidence from economic research, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Apr