The UK has seen a steep rise in worklessness due to long-term sickness, but what does this really tell us? In fact it says more about the benefit system than public health. Health problems aren’t actually becoming more common, but health-related payments have become more generous than unemployment benefits; making it more attractive for the workless to cite health as a reason for not having a job.
Misleading metrics
Don’t take statistics at face value.
The opening of a new Waitrose supposedly adds £36,000 to the value of nearby properties. But this ‘Waitrose effect’ is the result of reverse correlation: the supermarket chooses store locations that are already expensive.