Comments on: Recession report #14: Mixed news in a fragile labour market

By: Labour's "job guarantee" vital in fight against long term unemployment | Left Foot Forward

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:53:04 +0000

[...] negative impacts of long-term worklessness for individuals are well documented, including the increased likelihood of mental health problems, relationship breakdown, alcohol [...]

By: Nicola

Nicola — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:17:08 +0000

Hi Stephen, you might be interested in the blog that is run by our organising team: http://www.strongerunions.org/, and also in our union reps website http://www.unionreps.org.uk/login.cfm, and – if you work for a union – in this information and networking site: https://www.unionprofessionals.org.uk/.

The TUC and unionlearn have been developing a programme of work to support unions during the downturn, most recently through the development of our recession and recovery project – there are more details here: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/initiatives/learn-3141-f0.cfm.

As you point out there is always much more than could be done, but it would also be unfair to suggest we have taken no action on these issues.

By: TUC Recession Report No. 14 « Connected Research

TUC Recession Report No. 14 « Connected Research — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:30:49 +0000

[...] leave a comment » The TUC has published its most recent Recession Report, which can be accessed via Nicola Smith’s blog posting on ToUChstone here. [...]

By: Stephen Brooks

Stephen Brooks — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:53:24 +0000

Other than saying what is the government doing about the health and social impact of unemployment the unions and the TUC must themselves begin to take a more proactive approach to supporting the unemployed.
What are unions doing about keeping up links with there unemployed members? There should be greater efforts to communicate with members via email newsletters like many other organisations can; they should be maintaining membership for unemployed members via internet networks and be helping them find new jobs/training opportunities/peer support/helplines. What are the TUC Centres for the Unemployed up to. They should be linking in to unemployed members by also using the opportunities of the internet.

I think the Touchstone blog to be a real enterprising adventure. But the TUC should be leading the unions on the development of the internet for members and not leave it to some of the more ideological grass root groups.

By: Adam Coutts

Adam Coutts — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:41:35 +0000

Nicola, do get in touch with me if you need any literature/evidence etc for future reports.
adam.coutts@politics.ox.ac.uk / a.p.coutts@gmail.com

I thought this project may also be of interest. Good resources for empirical evidence
http://www-histecon.kings.cam.ac.uk/crises-health/bibliography.html
A.

By: Nicola

Nicola — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:10:47 +0000

Thanks Adam for highlighting these very useful reports. Working to a deadline we can’t always cover as much as we’d like, but great that you’ve flagged these references up.

By: Adam Coutts

Adam Coutts — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:39:46 +0000

The report has missed quite a few recent articles / reports etc. Of note is:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61124-7/abstract

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/consultation/Economics_Active_Labour_Market_Policies

By: Tweets that mention Recession report #14: Mixed news in a fragile labour market | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC -- Topsy.com

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:46:12 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Naomi Alexander, George Selmer, ToUChstone blog, topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en and others. topsy_top20k_en said: Recession report #14: Mixed news in a fragile labour market http://bit.ly/8UjMaG [...]

By: Naomi Alexander

Naomi Alexander — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:45:07 +0000

This latest TUC recession report makes interesting reading, outlining that there is still a long way to go, particularly in deprived areas that never really benefited from the economic boom of the last 10 years.

The links between health and unemployment are well argued here and something that we at the CREATE Consortium have been concerned about for years. The benefits trap keeps people out of work and stops community organisations from employing local unemployed people in the part time or sessional work that has a positive impact on the health of a community.

Will Hutton wrote a piece for us about this exact issue recently that we will be publishing on our blog in the next few weeks: http://communityallowance.wordpress.com/

We believe a Community Allowance would make a positive contribution to the health and well-being of unemployed people and deprived places.