Lord Beecham
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Welfare Reform
Lord Beecham Excerpts(14 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Freud
I thank the noble Baroness for that question. The state of the economy is a fluid entity in terms of where jobs are. While jobs may be lost in some areas, new ones are created elsewhere. We have already seen a good pick-up: 280,000 people went back to work in the last quarter. Independent forecasts for the next couple of years from organisations such as the IMF and OBR are for 2 to 2.5 per cent growth. That would create net new jobs. The jobs will be there, but they may be different jobs.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Order. I am afraid that the time is up and we must move to the next business.