The economy
Fact checks about the economy, covering levels of inequality, prices, taxation, employment, unemployment and housing across the UK nations and regions
Are employers turning to migrants because British youths are 'too lazy to work'?
Today the Daily Mail and the Daily Star both reported that firms were turning to foreign workers to meet their demand for labour as 'young people in Britain just don't …
Read more…Which countries are in double-dip recession like the UK?
Following the release of bleak economic statistics, some commentators have again claimed that the UK and Italy are the only G20 countries in a 'double-dip' recession. Is this right, and …
Read more…Are two million people making cash-in-hand payments costing the treasury over £2 billion?
The finger is being pointed this week at 2 million people who are supposedly costing the Treasury over £2 billion through 'cash-in-hand' payments which aren't subject to tax. Full Fact …
Read more…Is Polly Toynbee wrong to be pessimistic about jobs figures, as Chris Grayling claims?
After a routine release of unemployment statistics, a not-so-routine row about the 'Olympics effect' rages on between journalists and ministers. But who's got their stats wrong?
Read more…Are farmers losing out on a pint of milk?
With thousands of farmers protesting at cuts to milk prices, several commentators have claimed that some farmers lose money on every litre of milk they produce. So what kind of …
Read more…How will capping student visas affect the economy?
Immigration is inevitably a contentious issue, both in terms of fact-checking and policy-making. Full Fact has had to look at several immigration-related claims, and has found that publicly-available data on …
Read more…Freedom of Information shows no evidence for thousands of 'never-worked' families
Earlier this year the Guardian ran an editorial attempting to debunk a 'convenient untruth' - the belief that there are potentially thousands of 'never-worked' families living on what have been …
Read more…Has the Government's Work Programme failed? Let's wait for the data.
Channel 4 News claimed to have a scoop yesterday after it unearthed data on the Government's much-discussed welfare-to-work scheme. which suggested the scheme was "failing to meet the minimum targets …
Read more…Are almost all new Housing Benefit claimants in work?
After Housing Benefit stormed the news agenda earlier this week, yet more claims about the employment status of recipients have circulated across the papers. Are they any more accurate?
Read more…Are only one in eight Housing Benefit claimants unemployed?
After David Cameron indicated over the weekend that the Government may scrap Housing Benefit for the under-25s, news outlets have been quick to provide their own analyses of who actually …
Read more…Full Fact fights bad information
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