Statistics Reveal Recession's Human Cost

As New Labour finally succeeds in returning the unemployment figures to Tory levels (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/18/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-recession ), the Guardian helpfully provides a constituency-by-constituency breakdown of the figures for those claiming benefit (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/mar/02/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-economics ).
Simon Rogers' piece explains, "We've gone for claimants rather than unemployed because -- although the numbers are lower -- they are bang up to date and available at a really local level, so you can see exactly what's happening near where you live."
The figures for most of the local seats make for sobering reading (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phNtm3LmDZEPe6sWz5-WHNg ):
Bootle: 2,689 men, 767 women. Total: 3,456.
Birkenhead: 2,649 men, 794 women. Total: 3,443.
Crosby: 1,270 men, 360 women. Total: 1,630.
Knowsley North & Sefton East: 2,479 men, 733 women. Total: 3,212.
Knowsley South: 2,662 men, 766 women. Total: 3,428.
Liverpool Garston: 2,416 men, 766 women. Total: 3,182.
Liverpool Riverside: 3,663 men, 1,146 women. Total: 4,809.
Liverpool Walton: 3,416 men, 976 women. Total: 4,392.
Liverpool Wavertree: 2,916 men, 927 women. Total: 3,843.
Liverpool West Derby: 2,963 men, 866 women. Total: 3,829.