There may also be little in the way of investment banking expertise that Lloyds can pick up from HBOS, even though the mortgage lender had been very active in trading asset-backed securities before being taken over by Lloyds last year.

FORBES: Banks

Long-term, economists would say it will pay dividends to the economy to have people more connected to the labour market during this period, though for some of the "newly active", life might not feel very different.

BBC: A different kind of jobs market