Unemployed not just statistics, says Justin Welby

The next Archbishop of Canterbury has rejected depictions of unemployed people as “work shy” warning that joblessness strips people of their basic “human dignity”.



Unemployed not just statistics, says Justin Welby 

Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, described unemployment as a “tragedy” with parallels to losses on the battlefield, which wears down “all but the bravest and toughest”.

His comments come amid controversy in some quarters over George Osborne’s depiction of some benefit claimants as people lying in bed while their “striver” neighbours go to work.

He also issued a series of stinging criticisms of Government policy, accusing it of giving the North East of England a “grossly unequal” share of some building funds in an "out of sight out of mind" attitude.

The comments came in highly unusual form for a bishop – as he took over as a newspaper editor for the day.

Bishop Welby, who becomes Archbishop next month, spent the day guest editing the Northen Echo, which is based in his Durham diocese, focusing on efforts to combat unemployment.

In an opinion piece he singled out the work of the Foundation For Jobs, a training project based in Darlington, which he said could be a model for the whole country.

“This sort of work is about the dignity of each human being,” he said.

“It treats people neither as mere resources nor as work shy, but as full of potential and able to change.”

Drawing on his experiences as a former businessman, he added: “It has been said: ‘The loss of a division is a statistic, the death of an individual is a tragedy’.

“We could say the same today about unemployment.

“It is something which, except for the bravest and toughest, wears people down, and through it our economy tells its victims the lie that they are worth nothing.

“As a Christian I start with the principle that every human being, because they are made and loved by God, is of infinite value.”

In a separate editorial the Bishop urged Vince Cable to back a bid for Teesside to secure new regeneration powers.

But he also criticised the North East’s £11.8 million share of a £215 million funding pot for infrastructure projects announced in Mr Osborne’s Autumn Statement as “grossly unequal”.

“That is just another example of out of sight, out of mind which seems to afflict such programmes when looking at this area,” he wrote.

“Education must play its part: the English Baccalaureate has important objectives, but it must not result in a downplaying of the more technical BTECs and equivalent.”

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