Numbers Rise to Sixteen Million People in UK without Pay in 2010

It is amazing to realise, that quite a large number of people and their dependants out of the over 62 million people living in UK are struggling. Despite the fact that a bigger percentage of these dependants are the young and the elderly, still the 2.5 million people who are currently unemployed represent a significant percentage of the dependants and the population as a whole. Considering the unemployed would have been economically active, the dependency ratio would have recorded some improvement. The current situation would have even been worse if it wasn’t for the self-employment business opportunities that have absorbed a better part of the UK’s population.

However, these alarming statistics can also to a large extent, be associated with the recent global economic recession witnessed world over. Massive lay-offs were witnessed in most industries. We may perhaps only have heard of the statistics concerning the lay-off s that were done in the big companies. One cannot tell precisely the number of self-employed people in small business undertaking that lost their jobs owing to the same economic challenges. The entertainment industry which employs a large percentage of the UK’s population for instance was hard hit. During the toughest times of the recession and which may still be far from over, many customers opted to spending more wisely and wouldn’t even consider investing in buying the latest movies or music albums. We may never have all the statistics but it’s obvious that many lost their business opportunities or made less sales. Credit card users considerably dropped as many acquired debit cards in order to minimize their expenditures by discouraging impulse buying. The current statistics of people without pay in UK are not therefore as surprising considering these harsh economic trends.

Another contributing factor to the large numbers of dependants in UK is the large numbers of immigrants that are still predicted to see the population of UK soar to 70 million by 2050 if the trends remain the same. Many people fly into the country especially students who finally end up settling and even bringing up their families in UK. This has definitely strained resources and is beyond the country’s capacity of absorbing them into the available employment opportunities. Even those that are lucky enough, only end up getting part time jobs which they supplement with self-employment and second business opportunities.

A major hope in turning around these statistics and their economical effects lies in the fact that a better part of the UK’s population is skilled. With the emerging business opportunities that the internet has brought, many people can still be absorbed into self employment. With the right infrastructure there is in UK, many can create home based businesses which can bring huge earnings at the end of the day. The working population can also pursue second business opportunities and even create more employment opportunities for other people as they reduce dependence on their salaries with second income. Home based opportunities will still turn most other dependants in families like the old and the young economically productive. These and many other strategies would significantly reduce the effects of supporting the many people in UK that currently do not have a pay.