There's an obvious solution, then

Figures just released show that in the three months to October the number of people unemployed rose by 137,000, compared with the previous three months.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, while there were 128,000 fewer people working in the private sector, there were 14,000 more in the public sector. The Government and Councils are playing their part in a time of rising unemployment by mopping up a small part of those made unemployed.

(These are official figures, quoted by the Daily Telegraph, which I am not able to rationalise, at least without further information.)

I could be mischievous, were the subject not so serious, and suggest that the solution is to take all unemployed on to the public payroll, even if future debt would be enormous in extra pensions to be found and in borrowings to pay their salaries now, assuming that those who continue in work cannot or will not pay the extra taxes needed. I wonder if something like this may have crossed the mind of G. Brown as he wrestles with the problem of saving himself and the economy.

It is surprising that employment in the public sector continues to grow at nearly 5,000 per month. If the increase does not stop soon, we shall begin the suspect that G. Brown is going for broke and in the process adopting my light-hearted suggestion.

As a footnote, The Telegraph notes that the 75,000 new claimants for Jobseeker's Allowance in November increased government payments by about £17 million. We can begin to see why the chancellor in the PBR was forecasting huge budget deficits!