Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession

This document argues that beating the social impacts of recession is crucial in preventing the downward spiral into long-term worklessness that the country has seen in the past. It outlines how previous recessions have resulted in not just rising unemployment but also increases in crime, mental health problems and family and relationship breakdown. It highlights the social impacts of previous recessions and how this time round despite steeper falls in GDP, labour market effects have been less severe than in the past.