Labour Policy Watch: Employment

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	Under the Tories monetarist policies, employment was left to the vagaries of the market. In 2 recessions unemployment rose to much the highest levels seen since the war and, though the system for counting it was changed 30 times, it was still at a historically high level when they lost office. Employment levels were also high then, however, though many of the new jobs were temporary or part-time. Foreign companies brought jobs to Britain because wages, taxes and social costs were low and unions weak, but it was also cheap to sack labour.
	Labour policy was:
	1	A return to full employment using Keynesian principles to stimulate demand
	2	To rebuild Britain's manufacturing base
	3	To use internationally agreed (ILO) methods to measure unemployment
	4	To end the reliance on undercutting other countries in the labour market
	5	To use education and training to attract high quality jobs
	In fact under New Labour:
	1	Demand for labour has been kept high, but by continued reliance on the market, while proposals for EU job-creation programmes are vetoed
	2	More than a million more manufacturing jobs have been lost since 1997
	3	The ILO system was not introduced though some changes were made
	4	Attempts, e.g. by the EU, to get a level playing field have been resisted
	5	The high quality job route remains government policy, but most new employment is low-paid and unskilled
	In addition:
		Even the doctored unemployment count remains at levels double those usual from 1940 to 1975
		A pledge to axe 104,000 civil service jobs was presented as good news
		New Labour is a proud advocate of the flexible labour market introduced by the Tories
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