Anna van Praagh
(Picture: Matt Writtle)The word “permacrisis” has been added to the dictionary as a term that defines 2022 and now, to top it all, we’re officially in a recession. The bizarrely good news is, however, that unemployment, at 3.6 per cent, is at its lowest level for nearly half a century and experts predict that unlike the recession in the Eighties when unemployment soared to double digits, this time it won’t exceed five per cent.
But even this isn’t really good news. In fact, this low unemployment figure actually hides something deeply troubling. One in five Britons aged 16 to 64 now describes themselves as neither in work or looking for work. More than five million of us are completely economically inactive and claiming out-of-work benefits.
