Cellar,
as we don't know the figures involved, it's all a bit academic.

There are many issues hindering people from getting a job - and a tattoo may only be a relatively small factor in this.

You mention facial tattoos - obviously that's a different category and will affect employer's perceptions - but I still think it's very hard to justify paying for their removal in the current economic climate.
Depends on the size and nature of the tattoo anyway.

I saw a woman on the train with her partner the other day and noticed that her neck and most of her fingers were tattooed - in the style that looks like they were scrawled on with a biro. Not my aesthetic choice, but she seemed happy. I couldn't like someone more or less because they have a tattoo - the fact Samantha Cameron has one just suggests she was following a fashion, not that it makes her a more interesting leftfield person. Let's face it, tattoos and piercings are so commonplace now that I don't think it's a particularly radical to have one - in some groups they are almost a uniform.