Resource for teaching unemployment

When teaching the Cambridge International AS Level Unemployment topic I use the first album released by the Birmingham band UB40. The album Signing Off was released in 1980 (see below). The front cover and reverse has been made to look like the UB40 unemployment benefit attendance card from which the band took their name.

Their UK top-ten hit “One In Ten” (which was from their second album ‘Present Arms’) was an attack on Thatcherism and is mistakenly cited as referring to the number of unemployed in the UK at that time. It is in fact a song about government statistics in general, and how politicians use them to de-humanise problems. Useful way to introduce the subject especially if the class like reggae. Click here to see the lyrics.

The clip below is the video that was released following the single.