In May 2010, the UK was in the worst recession since the 1930s. That's why unemployment was high. The fall in unemployment since then is due to economic recovery, not welfare reforms. All the reforms have done is increase human misery.
Since some of you don't get it, let me explain why the idea that IDS's welfare reforms reduced unemployment is totally bonkers. 1/
IDS's welfare reforms aimed to get people off long-term benefits. So they targeted people who were economically inactive, such as single mums, disabled people and people with chronic illnesses. 2/
Forcing economically inactive people into the pool of available labour INCREASES unemployment. Without IDS's reforms, unemployment would probably have fallen faster. 3/
Also, forcing people whose marginal productivity is low into the workforce reduces aggregate labour productivity - this partly explains the "productivity puzzle" . Lower productivity tends to dampen wage rises. So without IDS's reforms, wages might have risen faster too. 4/
Forcing the economically inactive into work didn't even reduce the benefits bill much, because they simply moved on to in-work benefits. 5/
The reforms seem to have been principally driven by resurgence of a Benthamite belief in the moral virtue of work. /5
