Unemployment

[StephenH]

I hope the mods will forgive me for continuing one line of discussion in the locked Lib.Dem. thread (you can lock this thread as well, if you want, and sorry for the intemperate language on the other thread, btw), but Madasafish wrote, inter alia, this:

"UK unemployment rose to 2.261 million in the three months to April (2007), the highest since November 1996 (when the Conservatives were in power), the Office for National Statistics said.

The jobless rate rose to 7.2%, the highest since July 1997.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 39,000 in May, less than the 60,000 which had been forecast by analysts. "

which I'd quite like to reply to. It seems to me that it proves my point. the highest unemployment got under Labour was about equal to the lowest it was under the Tories. Anyway, I admitted that it started to go wrong towards the end of Labour's time in office. We certainly never saw anything remotely like the almost 4 million unemployed that we had under Thatcher, and your own quote, at the end, admits that unemployment rose less than had been predicted!

[Nicos]

Keep it non -personal....and about unemployment...and it's OK

[lindyloo]

i would like to ask, how, if you ( anyone - no-one in particular) was tackling the problem, would you deal with it?

[Cosmo and Dibs]

The thing that gets to me is that the govt are going to get people off sickness benefits and 'into work'. Yet, there are already 2.5 million on Jobseekers Allowance struggling to find work.....so where are they going to find up to 5 million extra jobs from?

[bubblewrap]

The thing that gets to me is that the govt are going to get people off sickness benefits and 'into work'. Yet, there are already 2.5 million on Jobseekers Allowance struggling to find work.....so where are they going to find up to 5 million extra jobs from?

Don't forget the over 60s who were unemployed(like me) who are now on pension credits.
These people don't feature on the "jobless" figures.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

Don't forget the over 60s who were unemployed(like me) who are now on pension credits.
These people don't feature on the "jobless" figures.

Exactly.

The major cause of unemployment in this country is the annihilation of the UK manufacturing industries.

[Jeanied]

There are going to be up to half a million public sector workers out of work in the coming months - and there will be some private sector jobs that will have to go as a direct consequence of whole services stopping. That is a whole load of people who won't be paying tax soon.
I am scratching my head at the moment- I can't see how they are going to turn things around like this.

[selfraising]

We are waiting here with baited breath to find out whether OH will lose his incapacity benefit (he has Parkinsons Disease) due to the new guidelines and be put on Job Seekers Allowance. Unfortunately the questions that they are asking people on IB mean that certain things he could do on a good day but on a bad day he would be able to do none of them. I fully accept that there are some people who are just swinging the lead and that something needs to be done about it but what about those, including OH, who have this type of disability?

[zazen999]

There are going to be up to half a million public sector workers out of work in the coming months - and there will be some private sector jobs that will have to go as a direct consequence of whole services stopping. That is a whole load of people who won't be paying tax soon.
I am scratching my head at the moment- I can't see how they are going to turn things around like this.

Not only that, but claiming benefits and drawing the dole.

They aren't going to turn it around - are they? They have no intention of turning it around.

Housing:

Why do people who lose their jobs get housing benefits if they rent [which goes to pay someone else's mortgage] but if they are mortgage payers in their own right, they get absolutely nothing. So, if they default and lose their homes, they will have to rent and....oh yes.....claim housing benefit. What's that all about?

[bubblewrap]

Exactly.

The major cause of unemployment in this country is the annihilation of the UK manufacturing industries.

Don't I know it the place I worked at (Brush) used to employ 7,500 in the early 80s now only about 1,000 work there.
The losses were caused by the murder of our coal industry & the privatisation of the railways,water, gas & electricity.
The former publicly owed industries mostly bought "British"
But the new owners(a lot of them foreign)had no such loyalty.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I read a lot of letters pages in newspapers and listen to phone-ins and all you find are the 'I'm Alright Jacks' saying that benefits should be reduced and restricted. But, they should be careful what they wish for as one day they may become ill or injured and unable to work, meaning they have to survive on the meagre benefits they once called for.

[bubblewrap]

I don't think that will happen to the likes of Cameron & Clegg as they are both "loaded" but one can always live in hope.

[valmarg]

i would like to ask, how, if you ( anyone - no-one in particular) was tackling the problem, would you deal with it?

When it comes to redundancies, the basic method of dealing with it used to be last in/first out. That seems to have changed to first in/first out.

Long serving employees were paid more than new entrants, so when it came to making people redundant, you may have someone who had only worked for the company for six months. The 25+ years employee was on a far higher salary than the new employee.

You get rid of the long serving (loyal) employee and replace him/her with someone to whom you could pay a fraction of the salary. You would get the redundancy pay back in a very short time by paying the new incumbant a minimal salary.

Hope cur antony sleeps easy.

valmarg


When it came to annual appraisals the old employee had not got a bad mark on his record. The new employee had never been appraised.

So when it came to redundancies you get rid of the old wood.

When someone has worked half a lifetime and was compulsorily made redundant a matter of months before they would have been eligible for the company's early retirement scheme it is galling, especially when it happened to my husband

[Two_Sheds]

We are waiting here with baited breath to find out whether OH will lose his incapacity benefit

If he does, then you should immediately appeal. I don't have the figures to hand, but "most" appeals are won

Which goes to show what a waste of time & money these assessments are...

[Jeanied]

Hey ho, Valmarg - there are quite a few of us in that boat now.
I can't help thinking that in 5 years time they will need to get us all out of mothballs once things go badly wrong.