Visualization of UK Unemployment Benefit Claims

Once again snagging some data from the Guardian Datablog, we have created a visualization which shows unemployment benefit claims in the UK. Benefit claims are in some ways a better gauge of societal impact than unemployment itself because they also indicate the added cost that unemployment will bring to the state (as each claimant may receive funds from the government). In the UK, where entitlements and the national debt are continuous friction points, it is of even higher significance. Click on the top graph to see details by constituency.

Although the recession is technically over, unemployment continues to plague the UK. Of the eleven regions pictured here, only the Southwest has fewer claims compared to a year ago. This surge in claims is led by women, whose applications have increased significantly more than male claims year-on-year.