http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmworpen/writev/576/m32.htm (DWP evidence to Work and Pensions select committee on Universal Credit, 17 August 2012)
38. Universal Credit makes more claimants employable and better able to get jobs. Over eight million people in the UK don’t use a computer, and 38 per cent of these are unemployed.
Even if we take "over eight million" to mean "eight million ", that's just over three million people who the DWP think are unemployed and don't use a computer.
The unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 2.59 million unemployed people, down 7,000 on the quarter.
So, how does this all work? The DWP are claiming that of 2.59 million unemployed, at least 3.04 million of them don't use a computer. That can't be right, so the numbers must have got mangled in transmission. Either than, or the DWP know the unemployment figures are wrong, and have accidentally let the cat out of the bag.
ian