Read this? http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/12/unemployment-jobs
Remember this? Something tells me it may feature in the next Tory adverts...
What's different between 1979 and 2008/9 is the quality of the jobs we have. In 1979, Britain still had a manufacturing sector worth talking about. It was in trouble, but at least it was still there. We had a mix of heavy and light industry. We even had a car industry. Today, we are heading into a recession with a workforce centred around service industries - the ones that get hit hard in a recession. When money is tight, we don't eat out so often, not even to McDonald's. We don't go to the movies. We don't stay in so many hotels. We just don't consume. We also have less money to invest, so financial services get hit as well.
Sooner or later, we are going to have to understand that creating jobs isn't enough; the quality of the jobs, and the resilience of the jobs to a downturn in the economy is just as important.
It's going to be a very nasty recession.