The Working Class reap their rewards, but for how long?

In articles today covered on both the BBC website and The Guardian, it is reported that since 2000, the gap between rich and poor has decreased in the UK due to high employment rates. Good news. The government stated a plan and followed through. Well done, or so it would seem.

The report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated that the gap had widened during the 1980s and 1990s, which was a time of Conservative government.

There are two things that cause concern here: firstly, in Lancashire, Conservative control has become a lot stronger in recent years, especially with the decline in Labour popularity, and secondly, tying in with this decline, is the economic "crisis", aka the current recession.

Unemployment rates, according to the Lancashire County Council website, are 1% higher in the North West than the UK average, with 134,000 men and 87,000 women unemployed.

The question then is this: how long can the government, both local and national, continue to maintain minimal unemployment in the midsts of financial downturn?

The news over the past six weeks has been packed with news of the economy and other major economies across the world and how badly everything is failing and having to be bailed out. Businesses are struggling as people are spending less, and as such job retention is becoming increasingly difficult.

This surely means that job cuts will be forced upon businesses to survive and as a result cancel out all the positives that this OECD report has shown.

The report has come at a useful time for the government, but a nonchalant one for the public.