Case study - regional variation
Regional variation in unemployment in the UK
Have a look at the Economy tracker in the BBC website. You can see how unemployment in the various UK regions has changed significantly over the last 6 years. (You can do this in the web window below or follow the previous link to open the site in a new web window)
Government policy will usually aim to get rid of this unemployment as it represents a waste of resources. Those people could be producing and boosting the national income of the economy. Not only that, but they are likely to be claiming unemployment benefits or social security payments and so the government budget is taking a double hit - no tax return and social security payments being made. This is not good news for governments under pressure to deliver better and better public services.