Whilst many of us seem to be obsessed about the politics of politics, the real world continues around us.
Certainly, the new Minister for Economic Development will have been reminded of that yesterday morning and the massive task ahead of him if he stays in power.
The latest labour market statistics for Wales show that 29.5 per cent of the adult working population in Wales is either unemployed or economically inactive. That equates to over 500,000 adults out of work, and at a time when migrant workers have been coming into Wales in their thousands.
I await with bated breath for his department's strategy to deal with this, especially in getting the economically inactive back into the workplace which is an issue his predecessors in the job have completely ignored.
Certainly, the new Minister for Economic Development will have been reminded of that yesterday morning and the massive task ahead of him if he stays in power.
The latest labour market statistics for Wales show that 29.5 per cent of the adult working population in Wales is either unemployed or economically inactive. That equates to over 500,000 adults out of work, and at a time when migrant workers have been coming into Wales in their thousands.
I await with bated breath for his department's strategy to deal with this, especially in getting the economically inactive back into the workplace which is an issue his predecessors in the job have completely ignored.
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The general trend is also downwards and has been for some time.
And of the 426,000 only 106,000 want a job. Let's not forget that the economically inactive include full-time carers, such as parents of school age children, as well as students.
If you read the post carefully, I have included the 80,000 unemployed as well in the figures, which are termed as economically active by our friends in the ONS but nevertheless are not contributing to the economy.
By the way, the trend is not downwards - economic inactivity has been stubborn at around the 420,000-430,000 mark for the last four years (in Feb-Apr 03 it was 419k) and even more worryingly, unemployment is creeping upwards.
Also, the economic inactivity rate in Wales is 2.6 per cent higher than in the UK.
We actually have a situation in Wales where employment has gone up, but so has unemployment and economic inactivity.
frightening figure you give.
I quite believe you.
The amount that are on long term incapicity benefit and do not seem to have any likely hood of getting back into the work place is amazing.
A lot would appear to have no want to enter the work place either.
I'd still caution against regarding all economically inactivity as bad thing. A certain level is a good thing, as it means we have people studying and people being looked after.
The level of EI has fallen from around the 450s, where they were from the mid 1990s until around 2003, and have remained at the levels you suggest since. So there has been a statistically significant step down, which has then remained at that lower level.
Those who want a job (i.e stripping out the students and the carers) has also declined from around 140,000 at the end of 2000 to around 106,000 today.
And while it is true that Wales's rate is higher than the UK's as a whole it is lower than London's, Northern Ireland's and the North East and comparable to areas such as the West Midlands, the North West and Yorkshire.
So the picture is more complex than you suggest. It is not a deteriorating situation and Wales is mid-low table compared to the English regional picture and in comparison to other parts of the UK.