Employment

[allinthistogether!!]

What a load of rubbish some people talk on here  my sons are unemployed long term and dont you dare tell me they dont try ive seen them try and ive also seen them cry  there are over 4,000 out of work in hartlepool and you going to tell me there are 4,000+ jobs .
As for going to job centre every day what a great idea  that will make jobs  building a bigger one for them all to get in every day.
My sons are in an agency at bottom of church street and they are total waste of time  wanted one son to go self employed selling hot water boilers he told them lots of time he wants a proper job they didnt listen he was tat interview to forge names on the paper work good job that.
He also got a letter saying if he didnt attend an interview in march this year his money would be stopped in got letter  3 weeks ago in september good work (not)

Tell your lads to stick in and they will find something eventually. People don't realise how soul destroying it is when you are unemployed and all you want to do is get yourself working, money behind you, a car, your own place...a sense of pride! I would say i have a bit about me, well educated, experienced and without wanting to come across as big headed i'm certainly employable and yet i still receive rejections from McDonalds, B&M and the like.

I've been unemployed since July last year and have tried every trick in the book, visiting businesses, phoning, sending CV's...i tend not to even get a reply. I offer to work a week for free in some cases and still don't hear back. I was recently referred to the work programme and in my opinion it is a complete waste of time. I sign in, go in a room with 5/6 other people, the guy reads off some jobs on a list and goes "do you want to apply for these?" then i go home! Easy money if you can get it 

Coincidentally i am starting a job this week in Darlington. Bit of travelling but anything to get the pennies rolling in again.

Stick in...

[SRMoore]

Congratulations on your new job, allinthistogether.

Mo rightly points out that many agencies are a nightmare. I have worked for agencies in the past and at one point I worked behind the desk in one. It was the worst job I have ever had and I hated it because I don't like lying to people.

Having said that about agencies; I got my current job through an agency in Stockton and they are currently recruiting for the new Clipper warehouse at Wynyard. It'd be worthwhile your lads contacting them. They may wait a couple of weeks or slightly more for a start but the company is growing so it's be worth them contacting LMR and enquiring about it.

[pensionater]

Clipper,isn't that Asda in disguise.probably a tax fiddle somewhere.

[Land Phil]

Why can't people clean graffiti or pick up litter for minimum wage ?

Surely it is slavery if people are forced to work without pay.

Benefits are not pay and the two should not be mixed up.

You work you get paid, you can't work you get benefits.

People need jobs not "experience" and if they are offered a job they are capable of doing and refuse then all very well if they are penalised for doing so.

[The Great Dictator]

People who are long term unemployed soon get out of the habit of working, i know that because it happened to me.

If they can't spend a day or 2 per week cleaning and tidying war memorials and cemeteries then they have something to hide.

Litter picking should be a punishment for criminals as should graffiti.

[Hartlepudlion]

Have to agree with TGD. I can't see anything wrong in doing this type of work. It doesn't get done now so no jobs will be lost and what's wrong with having to 'earn' ones benefits? Lots of low paid workers are getting a lot less than many on benefits and they don't earn it tax free. As well as getting them used to the discipline of work it might make them more civic responsible and start to look after their town

In response to an earlier post, as I understand it, it will only apply to people capable of working but WILL NOT not to those who CAN't work.

[ARC86]

I just find the whole notion of forcing somebody to work 30 hours a week for £1.32 an hour absolutely disgusting.. if these jobs need doing then employ them to do them, simple - we would all like something doing for nothing but this proposal is just slave Labour.. how many people on this forum would work for £1.32 an hour? I refer back to my poundland comment, a fair days work for a fair days pay is not to much to ask for

[SRMoore]

I presume you are using the £1.32 figure as the basic JSA divided by 30 hours? (I believe JSA is £71 per week now so that'd be £2.36 per hour).

Now add Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit free prescriptions, free eye tests and the other entitlements working people don't get and you'll fast reach an hourly rate equalling or exceeding that of the NMW.

Of course, after three years of languishing on the dole they could, if getting up on a morning and into a working routine rather is not for them, take up the offer of training/help to tackle some of the things hindering their efforts to find work like illiteracy or drug dependency.

Or of course we could just stick with Labours policy of throwing people on the scrap heap and simply giving them enough money to keep them quiet.
Because that is much fairer and so much easier!

[pensionater]

Cameron has announced today that if the Cons get back in under 25 year olds will get nothing. Maybe this is just what we need to get the young off their backsides.AND GO AND VOTE.

[mk1]

Now add Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit free prescriptions, free eye tests and the other entitlements working people don't get and you'll fast reach an hourly rate equalling or exceeding that of the NMW.

This betrays your total lack of understanding of the 'Benefit' system.

The bulk of all benefits go to Pensioners.

A large number of working people also get all the benefits mentioned above.
Not everyone has a full time job and this Government is making the mistake of thinking all the people forced  in to  part-time or zero hour contacts are on the same income as ex  public schoolboy cabinet members..

In the mad rush to win back the 'swivel eyed loons' policy the Tories have decided to attack the poor.
Pure spite.

[SRMoore]

The bulk of all benefits go to Pensioners.

A large number of working people also get all the benefits mentioned above.
Not everyone has a full time job and this Government is making the mistake of thinking all the people forced  in to  part-time or zero hour contacts are on the same income as ex  public schoolboy cabinet members..

In the mad rush to win back the 'swivel eyed loons' policy the Tories have decided to attack the poor.
Pure spite.

This betrays your total lack of understanding of the twenty first century and the Conservative Party.

Notice how it is only ever the raging lefties, demanding equality for all that engage in spiteful class warfare against those who try to offer a hand up rather than a hand out.

[ARC86]

Shane you wrongly make the assumption that all long term unemployed people recieve all of those benefits.. i was unemployed for 9 months awhile back and never recieved a penny   id love to know how this new policy for under 25s is going to work.. im all for helping people back to work but evicting people from there homes and putting people in rent arrears hardly increases social mobility.. the conservatives clearly arent the party of young people.. EMA scrapped, tuition fees trebled and school sports funding all axed.. i get the impression the tories are doing as much damage as they can now in shrinking the state because they know that come 2015 Mr Cameron will no longer be Prime minister

[Stevef]

Anyone out of work and receiving "benefits" has already earn't their benefits. This is done by the deduction of national insurance payments while working. Recent events in Hartlepool should have made people well aware that if they haven't earnt them by paying their national insurance stamp they will not be entitled to benefits.

Perhaps the only notable exception to that fact is the younger generation who are coming into the jobs market for the first time and have yet to make any payments into the national insurance scheme. Do we really need those youngsters who haven't yet found employment to have humiliation, exclusion or deprivation to be their first introduction to the adult world?

I find that whenever you press and question the people who support these views; in the end they will always say that they are targeted at the minority who are work shy, scroungers etc. and not those who are in difficulties through no fault of their own.

The problem with that attitude is the system will not and cannot distinguish between the two. It has to apply one set of rules to all. Not for the first time you are left with a situation where the majority are discriminated against because of the alleged actions of the few. The only thing that prospers in such a situation is prejudice.

According to a BBC documentary I watched some time back, the amount of money lost to benefit fraud was a small fraction of a percentage point, of the amount paid to those who where unemployed. A larger amount was paid as benefits to those in employment and earning a pittance, while the largest amount of benefits is paid to pensioners.

How long before someone suggests that they should be made to work for their benefits?

As for those who will not work or cannot work, it depends on the definition being applied which again depends on the point that's being made at the time. In my view if there are two people looking for work and only one job, then one of them cannot work.

There is nothing more British than dancing around the elephant in the middle of the room. This elephant is the ability of the British economy to support its population by providing enough "wealth creating" jobs in the private sector.

The inability of politicians of any creed to focus on that fact is a major problem. It is far easier to talk about the peripheries such as the cost of benefits, profits, global markets, flexible labour, exploitation etc.... All of which can be spun to pander to the prejudices of there respective core voters, and none of which deals with the problem.

[mk1]

i was unemployed for 9 months awhile back and never recieved a penny 

This is the trick that makes the unemployment figures a farce.

There are 2 sets of numbers.
Those out of work and claiming benefits.
Those out of work and not claiming benefits.

The unemployment figures you see politicians using is the former.

The later group is never mentioned or allowed for and it is a phantom army of unemployed. Those people are also in competition for the jobs.

If you are a couple and both working fine. If one  becomes unemployed they do not qualify for any benefit. Your partner is deemed  to be responsible for you.

I think it obscene that Cameron is at present fighting to preserve the bonuses of those that bankroll the Tory Party whilst at the same time taking 40 quid from those on their arses.

The money given to the bankers  would fund all the benefits of all the unemployed since the start of the Welfare State.

[seaton]

The problem with that attitude is the system will not and cannot distinguish between the two. It has to apply one set of rules to all. Not for the first time you are left with a situation where the majority are discriminated against because of the alleged actions of the few. The only thing that prospers in such a situation is prejudice.

I had this problem a few months ago, I have paid into the system for 45 years. I registered for JSA,completed all the paperwork etc online.
I went to the Job Centre for the interview,I was humilated, bullied and intimidated by a Advisor called Cath, who kept saying to me `she was younger than she looked` Part of my Job Seekers Agreement was to apply for 14 jobs a fortnight. I phoned and complained to Supervisor about the Advisors attitude, his reply basically was she was only doing her job and we treat every one the same ! My opinion is they are trying to discourage people from claiming benefit. I could count the number of times on one hand how many times I have claimed JSA.
The 14 jobs a fortnight became an isuue and I was asked to return one day to speak to a Supervisor as I had not applied for 14 jobs, said there isnt 14 which match my skills, basically told me to send 14 CVs to different Employment Agencies, which I duly did every fortnight, I am now currently in employment but will `sign on` again, I have paid my `dues` so I am entitled to JSA