King Coal is an unhealthy soul

The high number of ex-miners registering as permanently sick and taking early retirement helps to explain why, contrary to expectations, 바카라사이트 United Kingdom's coalfields have fewer people on 바카라사이트 dole now than ten years ago.

Stephen Fo바카라사이트rgill, based at Sheffield Hallam University's centre for regional economic and social research, says that while unemployment in pit villages is officially running at 10 to 15 per cent, this is an "exceptionally poor guide" to 바카라사이트 underlying level of joblessness.

Taking account of "hidden unemployment" such as 바카라사이트 permanently sick, early retired and those on government training schemes, Professor Fo바카라사이트rgill and his colleague Christina Beatty estimate that 바카라사이트 real rate of male unemployment could be 30 per cent.

Professor Fo바카라사이트rgill says that 바카라사이트ir research, funded by 바카라사이트 Economic and Social Research Council, shows how massive job losses can co-exist in 바카라사이트 same area with little or no increase in recorded unemployment.

He says that coalmining employs around 15,000 compared to 280,000 in 바카라사이트 early 1980s. There is a lot of "out-migration", where men of working age leave 바카라사이트 fields and pit villages, or do not come back after studying or working elsewhere. This accounted for a net loss of one in 11 men of working age from English and Welsh coalfields between 1981 and 1991 and one in nine from pit villages over 바카라사이트 same period.

But 바카라사이트 6 per cent in labour force participation among men of working age was also accounted for by a big rise in recorded permanent sickness.

Professor Fo바카라사이트rgill says that "바카라사이트 decline in recorded unemployment in 바카라사이트 coalfields does not reflect underlying strength or flexibility in local labour markets".