Real reason for fall in social spending

ONCE again, Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan misses the point on tax and spending (Irish Examiner letters, January 26).

He bemoans the fact that social spending has fallen from 21% of GDP in 1992 to 14% in 2001 and seems to attribute the drop to reductions in corporation tax. That is ridiculous.

Social spending includes unemployment benefits. Joblessness plummeted over those nine years from 17% to 4%. Naturally, that would reduce the overall spending on unemployment benefits and, consequently, social spending.