RE the letter “Jobless total has fallen” by Chris Green (April 1).

It is no coincidence that this letter appeared in The Bolton News on April Fool’s Day, because Mr Green’s claims are a complete and utter laughable joke.

Firstly there are hundreds of thousands of benefit claimants who are part of Government work programmes and are not included in the overall unemployed count, despite the fact they are not employed and paid a salary.

Another group are those who have been forced into part-time temporary employment simply down to the fact that there is no real and secure jobs about any longer.

There are around eight million people who fall into the category of under-employment. On top of this there are thousands who have signed up to the doomed and failing universal credit. This group of people are also exempt from the unemployment count.

The Conservatives massaged unemployment figures in a similar way all the way through the 1980s, just as they are doing now. So there is no real drop in unemployed people actually finding jobs, it’s the usual case of churning the figures and hiding people from the unemployment count in a bid to create confidence in Government policies.

But in real terms we are still in a recession and the Government has done nothing to remedy this other than to demonize unemployed people for their own monumental economic failings and their lack of action in reforming the banking sector.

Steve Jones Morris Green