Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron should be proud of jobs rise

David Cameron said in Prime Minister’s Questions today that there have been 800,000 more private sector jobs under his government. This is almost true, and — I thought — worthy of elaboration.

Government cannot, of course, ‘create’ jobs — all it can do is move jobs from the private to the public sector. Every penny of public sector salary is taken from the real economy, and is a penny that someone isn’t being paid (or isn’t being spent). Now, if you’re the BBC it doesn’t seem that way. It seems like the sky is falling in, because your own state-mandated budgets are being cut. That’s why the BBC had almost no mention of cuts when a million jobs were lost from the private sector, and speaks as if we are now living through a slasher era when the number of jobs in the economy is actually rising.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in