Unemployment

[weekendwellies]

I have been looking for a job for the last 7 months. Its all very well taking people off benefits, but there are no jobs out there. Or rather, there are jobs but the pay is rubbish, certainly not enough for a person to live on. Who is going to do a job that leaves them on the bread line?

[bubblewrap]

I have been looking for a job for the last 7 months. Its all very well taking people off benefits, but there are no jobs out there. Or rather, there are jobs but the pay is rubbish, certainly not enough for a person to live on. Who is going to do a job that leaves them on the bread line?

One problem though. If you turn a job down or don't try "hard enough" to get a job the b*****ds stop your benefit.

[Nicos]

Please excuse my ignorance- but if someone were to earn the minimum wage, wouldn't they still be eligable of some benefits to top up their income- back to the level of their original unemployment money??

I always asumed that benefits allowed was some indication of the minimum amount of money you could exist on...and that minimum wage was a reflection of the amount a person could survive on???..or is that all a joke??

[bubblewrap]

Please excuse my ignorance- but if someone were to earn the minimum wage, wouldn't they still be eligable of some benefits to top up their income- back to the level of their original unemployment money??

I always asumed that benefits allowed was some indication of the minimum amount of money you could exist on...and that minimum wage was a reflection of the amount a person could survive on???..or is that all a joke??

You only get tax credits if you work more than 30 hours.
You don't get tax credits if you are single.
Most of the jobs round here are less than 30 hours.(still better than JSA @ £48 a week)
I was out of work for over 3 years & applied on average at least for one job a week in all that time I had two interviews.
Snag is if you are over 55 you don't stand a chance.
A least on pension credits I'm out of the rat race.

[bubblewrap]

Just a point of view with high unemployment wages are in general kept lower.

[PAULW]

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.

Quite right, the person we really need in charge in these troubled time is a true socialist a man of the people for the people like brother Bliar a man who who is struggling like the rest of the working man with his NINE houses over £20 million earned? since he left office this man knows the meaning of stress not knowing where the next property is coming from.

[Two_Sheds]

I always asumed that benefits allowed was some indication of the minimum amount of money you could exist on.. ?

Exist, not live. Esp. if you're a single person with no kids.

Just as an example, a woman gets more money in maternity allowance (£124.88) than a person gets in incapacity benefit (£68.95).

Sure, you could argue that she has baby clothes & kit to buy, yet a person on Incap may well be at home all day, needing the heating on, has to pay for medicines (you aren't eligible for free prescriptions on IB, you pay full whack, that's £7 for each medicine)

I can't see how that's fair: you get paid more for making a lifestyle choice (having kids) than you do for getting cancer (just as an example)

I live in a fairly depressed area (low employment). One bed flats are typically £340 pcm, JSA is £284 pcm. You typically get three quarters of your rent paid for in housing benefit, so that leaves a shortfall which you have to pay out of your JSA/Incap. Even if you move into a cheaper property (if you can find one), your housing benefit will still only cover about the same 3/4 of your rent. You are always struggling to make ends meet.

I've said it before on here, but I'll state it again. When I was single, on benefits, I had no washing machine, no car (couldn't even afford the £5 bus fare to the hospital), no TV, no computer, no phoneline (mobile PAYG, no outgoing calls made), no heating or hot water (couldn't afford), no new clothes, furniture or shoes (charity shop only). etc etc. My flats were big enough but cold, insecure and noisy, usually on bad estates because those are the cheapest flats.

You are better off if you have children, because you get more money, but as a single person it is a damn hard miserable struggle to live on benefits.

[bubblewrap]

Quite right, the person we really need in charge in these troubled time is a true socialist a man of the people for the people like brother Bliar a man who who is struggling like the rest of the working man with his NINE houses over £20 million earned? since he left office this man knows the meaning of stress not knowing where the next property is coming from.

Tony B liar a socialist? He is the main reason I left the Labour party.
He certainly looked after No1 didn't he.?

[SarzWix]

If you work 16 hours a week, you get some Working Tax Credits. If you work over 30 hours a week you get a bit more. Working Tax Credits apply whether you have children, or a partner, or not. This is supposed to top-up your income to a living-wage, and makes it slightly higher than being on JA.

CHILD Tax Credits go to those with children, and you get that (if your income is low enough) whether you work or not. This is instead of claiming Income Support or dependants allowance on other benefits and means if you do something that has your other benefits stopped, you still get CTC for the children.

As for what I'd do to sort the problems out, I have no idea. The problem is an ideological one in the end - until the dominant order decide that scrubbing hospital wards/caring for the elderly/driving a bus is worthy of being paid as much as gambling with 'fake' money on a computer screen, things are never going to change.

[StephenH]

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

I haven't the faintest idea, but then, it's not my job. It is the job of politicians, and Labour does a much better job than the Tories, as I think I've demonstrated.

[Jeanied]

Well I for one am going to have to find something to keep the wolf from the door when I get the chop. Lord knows what that will be as most of my areas of expertise look like they are going to be cut.

Ironically at the moment I am madly busy at work as everyone is getting their chunk of my time before it all ends... and while it still comes free from the local authority!

[SarzWix]

Oh, and I'd like to object at this point to having kids being referred to as 'a lifestyle choice'. Children aren't extra baggage, or something you choose like going on holiday or buying a new TV that you don't need. They are people and have as much right to have their needs addressed in benefits as an adult does. If no-one had kids, then who'd be paying tax in 40 years time? And if only people who 'can afford' kids had them, who's going to be working in shops, looking after the elderly, fitting bathrooms and collecting rubbish in 40 years time? Cos it sure as hell isn't going to be the upper-classes offspring!

[FionaH]

Well said Sarz!

[Two_Sheds]

Oh, and I'd like to object at this point to having kids being referred to as 'a lifestyle choice'.

Well said Sarz!

I take your point, but they are a choice. You have a choice whether or not to use contraception, for instance.

I wasn't saying anyone is wrong for having children, (although some would like those on benefit to be sterilised) but The Taxpayer is looking to reduce benefit payments: so is it really fair that the pregnant get more money than the ill?

(I'm not picking a fight with you here, and if comments start getting personal I shall take myself off to the kitchen and do some ironing)

[FionaH]

I take your point, but they are a choice. You have a choice whether or not to use contraception, for instance.

I wasn't saying anyone is wrong for having children, (although some would like those on benefit to be sterilised) but The Taxpayer is looking to reduce benefit payments: so is it really fair that the pregnant get more money than the ill?

(I'm not picking a fight with you here, and if comments start getting personal I shall take myself off to the kitchen and do some ironing)

Your right it is a choice to have children and no it is not fair that pregnant people get more than someone with a life threatening/limiting illness. Its also not fair that some men sod off leaving women to bring up children without paying a penny either. And believe me the CSA can be next to useless

The thing is it is all a bit more complicated than child allowance versus incapacity benefit isn't it? So many cuts need to be made, as usual it seems the most vulnerable in society are taking the brunt of those cuts.
Where we as individuals feel the cuts are best made depends so much on our personal experiences. You suffered in cold damp flats as an ill single person, I tried so hard to pull myself up and out after being left with two small children.
Tis complicated, I think I need more coffee

eta: don't do something drastic like ironing! yuk