How much is reduced employment costing UK taxpayers?
Unemployment in the UK is fast approaching the 3 million mark with many people actually suggesting this figure will be breached by a substantial amount. However, it is very difficult to understand exactly how much an increase in unemployment costs the UK taxpayer and the UK government budget.
In simple terms, social security payments in the UK will increase from £165.6 billion this year to an enormous £193.4 billion in 2013/14. The forecast increase of over £63 billion during the period is an enormous amount of money and despite attempts by the UK government to reduce Social Security payments, it seems utterly useless to resist at this moment in time. The fact that by 2013/14 UK government spending on the welfare state and the servicing of the national debt will top an incredible £250 billion is a startling fact.
To put this another way, 30% of all income received by the UK government will be used to finance the welfare state and pay interest charges on UK national debt. This in itself is a truly damning indictment of the last two years and one which has shocked many analysts and economists in the UK. Surely it cannot get any worse?
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