What will be the consequences for 3 million on the dole queue?

What will be the consequences for 3 million on the dole queue?

I do not believe that people have grasped the seriousness of the situation and it is almost as though we have been in an air bubble waiting for Christmas and pretending that 2009 will go away.

It is 16 years since the country was last plunged in recession, many people have only been employed in good times, and they have seen wages, property process and standards of living rise and were told that this would continue indefinitely.

The consequence is that we have become accustomed to a life style where work was everything and brought seemingly limitless rewards.

Now that the tap has been turned off what will be the consequences. Quite simply I believe that many people will not be able to cope with a change of lifestyle.

Unlike previous downturns this is going to affect the white collar worker, those involved in the financial sector and the service industries. Those employed in these sectors have been the drivers of the economy. That in itself will be a major consequence.

Michael White writing on the Guardian blog reminds us that

The traumatic shakeout of the 80s was concentrated in the industrial regions, mostly Scotland, Wales, northern England and the Midlands, in communities with fewer adaptable skills and few alternative sources of employment.

I’m not suggesting that we will see rioting on the streets aka the Greek model but it is difficult to predict what will happen to people who have known nothing but prosperity in their working careers.