Leeds nostalgia: This week in January 1981... unemployment hits 3m

Unemployment in the UK topped 3m, according to the Trades Union Congress.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Jan 2017, 13:03 BST
Leeds, 1980s From the traffic island near the International Pool in Leeds, Frank Howarth holds aloft his sign asking for work ---- in the hope that some passing driver can solve his dilemma.Leeds, 1980s From the traffic island near the International Pool in Leeds, Frank Howarth holds aloft his sign asking for work ---- in the hope that some passing driver can solve his dilemma.
Leeds, 1980s From the traffic island near the International Pool in Leeds, Frank Howarth holds aloft his sign asking for work ---- in the hope that some passing driver can solve his dilemma.

But the TUC said its own report understated the crisis, adding that it had not included some 200,000 on short time, married women or people who lost their jobs just before retirement. It said had they included those figures, then the 3m threshold would have been reached the previous August.

The document, entitled Unemployment: The Fight for TUC Alternatives, accused the Government of turning Britain into an “industrial wasteland.”

It called for increased public spending, job creation, controls on prices and imports and more wealth sharing through fairer taxation.

Sound familiar?

Related topics:UnemploymentLeedsGovernment