Employment is rising but it's not down to job creation Instead the figures reflect desperate people struggling to get a job, starting odd jobs (like cleaning and decorating) and having to file tax returns under the label of being self-employed. More worryingly, perhaps, is the significant rise in the number of people going onto Government-backed training schemes. There were an extra 42,000 of these over the period - more than a quarter of the rise in employment. Because they are in training, they are not counted as being out of work - even though they are. This is a ludicrous concept and one I thought this Government was putting a stop to. Chris Grayling, the employment minister, told the Telegraph in January that the Government is winding up the practice, after we exposed that it had been going on abundantly under Labour. But Wednesday's new figures show a rise in those "secret jobless" - masking the figures. The data comes just a week after Ofsted, the education watchdog, said millions of pounds are being wasted on courses for unemployed people which never get them a job. Another 11,000 people are in unpaid family worker jobs, but are counted towards the employment figures. This is madness. If this Government wants to get a grip on whether the UK is, indeed, in a jobs crisis, how to tackle the real worry that actually Britain is locked in part-time and under-employment, and what can be done about high youth joblessness, then it should stop skewing the unemployment figures and start counting, in black and white terms, who has a job, and who hasnt. Jobs vacancies and careers advice at Telegraph Jobs