WHY ARE EDUCATED YOUNG PEOPLE RECEIVING WELFARE PAYMENTS?
Recently graduated – and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, housing benefit or any other form of welfare ‘hand-out’? Do you consider yourself a striver – or a skiver?
As the goverment’s reforms the welfare system start to take effect this week, everyone is talking about benefits. Nearly 300,000 people have signed a petition urging the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to try living on £53 a week, after he told listeners of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he could live on benefits, “if I had to”. Then the Daily Mail headlined their front page story about convicted child killer Mick Philpott “Vile Product of Welfare UK,” apparently linking his actions to the fact that he had claimed a substantial sum in benefits over the years.
But, as an article by the Evening Standard columnist Richard Godwin points out, there are a lot of myths knocking about when it comes to benefits claimants. Many people assume the unemployed are a major burden for taxpayers. But in reality a far larger proportion of the welfare budget is spent on in-work benefits for low-paid workers – people who have jobs but whose wages are not enough to live on, forcing them to need welfare support to make ends meet.
So, what is the truth when it comes to graduates on benefits? If you’re claiming welfare “hand-outs”, what are your circumstances – and how do you feel about receiving benefits? Is it true that welfare payments are an incentive not to work – or are you desperately seeking a job? How will the government’s reforms affect you – and what do you think about the way the media portrays people receiving benefits? We’d love to hear from you, so please comment below…
Signing on as a graduate was utterly humiliating. My local JCP more or less said there was no help they could offer me. Having to go in and show dozens of unacknowledged applications in return for £56 was not where I saw myself after university.
I’m on JSA after a years’ temp work and I’m 26 – and thank God since you’re dole’s higher when you’re over 25, though Housing Benefit is based on a room in a shared house til you’re 35. A fair bit of my JSA goes on rent for a room too, and much of the rest on bills, minimum payments etc (ie staving off default). Without my families’ help I’d struggle. I’m still better off in a city on this than in the countryside with them miles from jobs.
There can be ridiculous perverse incentives in the system to be honest, that could easily lead to a childless single person without support from family or friends to end up on the street. I started another temp job expecting it to last a week or two, but it ended after 2 days. I signed off as obligated to, and had to re-sign on. The hassle and delay and financial implications basically mean I’d’ve been slightly better off not working those 2 days at all – and in the short term far worse off from working since rent money is delayed (which as a lodger with unsympathetic landlords could mean you find yourself locked out and on the streets).
I can see how some people decide a few days work is a gamble they can’t risk.
All these moral panics are quite unhelpful. Welfare money is not wasted because normally it is used to pay for the services the unwaged person needs therefore increasing the cashflow of companies providing those services and helping them to stay profitable and to create jobs that other luckier people enjoy. The general public understand tha public spending needs to be rationalised. But graduates on welfare understand that somehow the system is not fair and has too many cracks where one can fall in . If you have invested the substantial money and effort needed to succeed in higher education, the DWP should do more to get graduates into paid work. We should be a priority. Welfare is not a perfect solution but it is the lesser evil in this case. I wonder as well how many hundreds or thousands of hours of unpaid work from people on benefits are given to the third sector every year. I know I have done my share over the years and it is also a ‘perverse’ system. Volunteering is meant to be voluntary. Charities can not expect to get free labor which is actually subsidized by DWP welfare payments (tax-payers money in the end) but somehow since support for charities is also hard, people let it happen. Moral panics, myths, tabloid rumours but who is actually getting the information that we need and who is understanding why things happen. Support has a great function in society. The Government should not dismantle the welfare system or reduce its area of action, we should symply modernise it and work together as a society leaving unhelpful stereotypes that the current coalition is using to divert attention to the fact the economy is not what it used to be. It is impossible to claim JSA if you are not sending at least 8 CVs a week and attending on time to all your appointments. But you can not force any employer to take on board someone from the Jobcentre and many are too reluctant to do so. Simply it is not ‘money for nothing’ as they say. It is valid and legitimate support that is containing bigger problems to appear. When people loosed their basics then we do have serious problems possibly much more costly to solve (medical treatment, emergency housing). We need more social empathy in the UK now.
I am living with my partner who works full time on minimum wage. Because of this, I was not entitled to JSA but at least i get around 3/4 of my share of the rent paid (that’s 265 Pounds housing benefit). Of course, because I have no income my partner pays for everything now, 950 for rent and bills plus a whopping 100 Pound Council Tax bill. All this happens while I have so little money that I haven’t had a cooked meal in three weeks, and literally left my flat around 5 times in the last two months to buy a few bits in Lidl and spend around 6 hours every day sending out CVs. If I do get an interview, I am turned down because of a lack of enthusiasm (?) or other excuses. Yes people, a university is well worth it 😉
Christian, if you get turned down because of lack of enthusiasm, doesn’t that tell you something??
Graduates are receiving welfare because the economy is in a ruinous state and the cost of living is too high (more specifically accommodation). The government have no credible plan to change this situation and they tend to engage in sops to their right wing supporters through ritual humiliation of the poor.
I am not receiving welfare at the moment because I still have a little bit of money and am lucky enough to have supportive family. I am doing everything possible to avoid signing on because I know the prejudice and stigmatisation that go with being a claimant.
I went to a decent London uni, studied a respected subject and achieved a decent grade, but the only work I have managed to gain after graduation has been low-paid temporary work with large gaps when I have been searching for work. There seems to be little chance of progression in this economy and I feel that I am being churned in poor quality work that is well below my ability level. If you leave your higher education off your CV you have large gaps, if you leave it on you are ‘over-qualified’.
Perhaps it is my fault for choosing a ‘competitive’ area (law) but then again I know quite a few graduates (some of whom have emigrated) and this dearth of opportunity does not seem to be related to the choice of subject. There simply aren’t enough decent jobs in the current economic climate. The only people I know who have stable and relevant employment have been those who were lucky enough to be able to work for free on internships.
The current government and it’s supporters heap the blame of a poor economy onto individuals by making crude and offensive remarks about their willingness to work. However, from what I see poor wages and high living costs demoralise people to the extent that there is apathy about work because many people can see that low-quality work doesn’t pay enough to live on. There is also the hidden costs of working precariously such as the hassle of bureaucracy in signing on and the various free services you lose after employment. The answer isn’t to punish the poor more by abolishing welfare (I hope we as a country still want to remain civilised) but to actually make work pay enough to live on. Hardly a revolutionary idea.
Getting IDS to live on £53 is a waste of time. Even if he carried out such a task he would be safe in the knowledge that he has a comfortable life to return to afterwards. He would not feel the sense of hopelessness that grinds you down when you realise that this is all there is to your life and things aren’t going to improve. He would not feel exploited by ‘workfare’ providers who receive tax payer subsidised free labour and then not be offered a job at the end of their ‘service’.
I’m a masters graduate from Oxford University with Distinction. I’m in full time work living in London but reliant on benefits so I can continue working. It’s high rents and low wages that are the problems here. The majority of people claiming benefits are in work, so the idea that benefit claimants are non-working scroungers is an absolute fallacy.
I’ve said it before but I’d always taken for granted that as long as I worked hard I would be able to earn my own money and pay my own way. As a teenager it never occurred to me that I could end up working full time and still needing to claim benefits. I also used to be very judgemental of “scroungers” but the thing some people forget it that you go to work to earn a living, you don’t go to work for fun. So if you’re going out to work but it doesn’t equal earning a living is it any wonder that some people in low paid work think what’s the point?
I think that introducing in work benefits was well intentioned but a huge mistake. It’s given bosses an excuse to pay as little as possible, landlords to charge as much as possible, the government has given itself a rod for its own back and some people don’t see the point in working.
In my case I chose to live at home rather than get housing benefit for a flat share, as I also said before I was a little concerned about who I might end up living with if I chose this route. I’ve only claimed JSA for the first 6 months or so after graduation, I didn’t feel guilty as I was seeking work at the time and it only really covered my rail fair to interviews, you couldn’t “live” on it.
Are you not playing into the hands of populist politicians by entertaining gossip over “strivers versus skivers” and asking graduates to justify their existence?
Jamie…. if some Personnel Clerk criticises a candidate due to “lack of enthusiasm”, would you honestly believe them ? Seriously ? SERIOUSLY ??? Once you get 3-5 years more experience, you will appreciate that Personnel Clerks are not the most qualified of candidates to make a judgement on even Ideal Candidates for a job.
@Catherine “As a teenager it never occurred to me that I could end up working full time and still needing to claim benefits. I also used to be very judgemental of “scroungers” but the thing some people forget it that you go to work to earn a living, you don’t go to work for fun.”
It didn’t occur to me either. I thought that as long as I put everything into gaining good grades and some experience then I would work my way up and be able to ‘live’. Unfortunately it feels like I am only able to survive rather than flourish.
The worse thing is the dread you live with each day, knowing that you will go through the same routine of applying for jobs and being blanked or rejected outright, being messed around and fobbed off by agencies, the ignorance of others making comments about your situation and getting that sinking feeling that nothing’s going to change soon.
I don’t think people have forgotten that we don’t go to work just for the fun of it, but in order to make some money to live. I think that the bashing of the unemployed is just propaganda and there are vested interests in keeping things the way they are. Either that or people like IDS are extremely ignorant or just don’t care one way or the other.
The current situation traps people in benefits. Even those completing higher education are now becoming trapped and jobs becoming low-paid, temporary when there is a demand for FT doesn’t help matters.
Eowyn, I hire people on a regular basis and I know when a candidate shows a lack of enthusiasm. The change has to come from them and not from the employer.
@ Eowyn – the original poster does not state that a personnel clerk made that response. It could have been the Head of HR for all you know.
Secondly many recruiters in HR are members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and have to pass exams.
You generally wont get turned down for ‘excuses’, they will be concrete reasons that are defendable in an employment tribunal.
I hire people to. Amongst other qualities enthusiasm for the job is something that most employers are looking for, they aren’t making excuses when you are given that feedback.
Tanya,
Perhaps this is not the correct place to be posting this but I would like to bring this to your attention if possible. During my time at university I met a girl who is now my fiance. It was our intention to get married and start a family in the UK. in the summer of 2012 the minimum income requirement to sponsor a non-EEA partner into the UK tripled from J5700 to J18,600 per year. This means that in my current tempopary employment, I will not be able to sponsor my partner to come here. This has caused great hardship and we have been apart for 8 months now. There has been little public interest in this issue and most people assume that a citizen can bring a married partner to the UK. Please would it be possible to cover this topic in a blog post as I feel it affects some young people on lower incomes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/9688898/Britains-migration-rules-are-tearing-families-apart.html
@Leo:
I’ve heard about these ridiculous laws (blatantly aimed at Southeast Asians, and trying to achieve the impossible in getting immigration below Cameron’s target despite EU membership) in clear violation to the right to family life under the ECHR and the right to marry under the UDHR (my ex-gf was Chinese, so I tried to keep up with these developments), I thought one of these laws was defeated by the Supreme Court?
I’ve heard there may be slight loopholes at least – if I understand correctly (I may be wrong and am not remotely an immigration expert) once you are married you can live in any EEA country except the UK – for example the Republic of Ireland (which has an open land border with Northern Ireland, and from which you can travel by ferry without showing passports). Of course, I’m aware the job market in Ireland is even worse. If you want to see your fiancée then explore whether or not marriage outside the UK would mean she’d be entitled to at least a UK tourist visa as a non-EEA spouse of an EU citizen (which last 6 months) under EU law.
Just remembered, I think it was a law requiring you to be over a certain age (21?) to sponsor a non-EEA spouse defeated by the Supreme Court.
I really need some clear, tailored advice, having already gone to JCP (I’ve been on JSA, on and off, for a year and an half), National Careers Service, ULU careers, recruitment agencies, etc, etc. I’m starting to worry exactly how much of my unemployment is my fault – and exactly what I can do to rectify my bad habits.
This is a rough outline of my CV:
Personal Profile.
A graduate experienced in interviewing; data collection and data management; report writing; presentations; tele-sales. Having volunteered with The Samaritans and CAB, I can offer information and advice to a wide audience.
Work Experience
@ 1234 (Volunteer) January 2013 — Present
Responsible for writing press releases, web features and basic web design duties using HTML and CSS.
@1234 — Market Research October 2012 — December 2012
Responsible for meeting targets set by the NHS and X City Council; supervising new team members by teaching them how to conduct research in a timely manner; collating quantitative information using Excel spreadsheets; representing the face of my company while conductive public interviews.
@1234 — Data Input December 2006 — October 2010
Responsible for recording factory orders and shipments worth up to £150k; collecting and collating information using Excel spreadsheets and Access database; supervising new members of staff, providing daily stats for accounts, and liaising with clients.
@1234 — Tourist Guide May 2000 — September 2006
Presenting historical guides; setting up joint deals with local cafes, hotels and holiday providers; negotiating costs.
Education
@1234 – PGdip Public Policy and Healthcare. February 2011 — September 2011
I gained merits in Global Health Economics and Business Management; and I received training in SPSS, Stata, Moodle (software platform), HTML, and Excel.
@1234 – BA (Hons) Philosophy and Theology September 2006 — June 2010
I gained experience balancing study and work: I was Welfare Officer in my final year, drafting needs assessments, creating health related infographics (Adobe Illustrator), editing health related pamphlets, and providing confidential, telephone support via the night support line, NiteLine.
@1234 — BTEC Art and Design September 2005 — June 2006
I gained experience using Photoshop and MovieMaker; creating storyboards; participating in performance art; illustration; textiles and fashion design.
Key Skills
Daily Use / Advanced Knowledge
– Microsoft Office
– CRM Systems (Petra and thankQ)
Occasional Use / Currently Learning
– HTML
– CSS
– Photoshop
– SPSS
Personal Interests
I enjoy learning about the community I live in, human rights and public policy. I’ve recently started volunteering with xxxxx; and I am currently liaising with my supervisors regarding setting up a local volunteer base of trust fundraisers and bid writers.
I enjoy the benefits of running, playing squash. I love food and drink; particularly, baking different types of bread, foraging, and learning about the history of food and recipes. -Hokey bit of irrelevant info.
References
References will be….
…
I have spoken to an advisor at JCP, a disillusioned woman who tells me that I’m doing ‘all the right things’, and then complains about the system. -She’s not ideal, but she’s a nice woman.
I am looking at retraining to be a nurse. I’m 28, with no career behind me, and I NEED some job security. -This is one reason why I want to retrain to be a nurse (if ‘RE’train is appropriate). I do have experience as a care worker, I enjoy caring for people, I’m good at it, and have good refs/CRB, and some basic training. -Recently, the care positions I’ve applied to all require me to have a car/driving licence. -I don’t have one….- any tips on getting around this?
I’ve been accepted onto a BSc in nursing. -I had my interview a while ago, at a time when I fully expected to be able to save up some money for Sept. I expected to get a FT job, any job : Care work, cleaning, pot wash, factory work; however, the P/T positions I was offered, worked out paying less than my JSA, and so I didn’t take them.
-Perhaps I was wrong to turn these jobs down? They were small contracts, 1 to 2 days a week, sometimes less than 7 hours p/w, sometimes costing more in transport. I may have built up a reputation, gained more hours with the company, but I took a calculated risk and stayed on JSA. – Was this a mistake?
…Anyway, the long and short of this is : I’m not sure I can afford to start the course this year. It works out at around 5k in bursaries, and an extra 2k in student loans. I need to repay some debt at 150 a month. There’s also rent, bills, food, etc. There’s also the problem of a deposit on a house, guarantors, etc. I worked out, I’d have about £30 a week. If anything were to go wrong, if I were to get ill, they’d be no contingency. I’m thinking, perhaps I need to postpone the course, and get a job? Amusingly, getting a job was the original plan, so I’m back at square one; only, this time, I have the opp to jump straight back to uni.
-Should I jump back into uni?
Advisors have told me to keep my options open. I have more than one CV, the one above is one designed for low level clerical stuff (I haven’t posted my care work CV – as my problems in care work is currently centered around not having a car). I also tailor this CV for other positions – account manager, advisor (welfare, housing, student – irony), sometimes I apply to telesales, but not often – telesales make me sad. -Is there anything v off-putting about that CV? -Lack of clerical experience?
After a year of getting nowhere, I’m worried that I’m doing everything the wrong way. Facing so many rejections, and being unemployed and in debt, is a deeply confusing situation. I simply don’t know what I should be doing, or where I should be going. I’m in a state of panic, and that doesn’t help me focus of cogent plans. I’ve sent my CV off to a few people, they say it’s OK – what do you think?
I thought about traveling to China, SK, Taiwan. I can’t afford the plane tickets out there, and although some places pay for return flights, you usually get reimbursed after you arrive/at the end of the contract. The prospect of arriving in debt, with no way to afford a flight back, is scary. Saving up for a ticket is slow. Also, I have no real family left, and there’s something off putting about high risk travelling w/o a family to call. I’m afraid. The counter to this is : I have nothing to lose (bar relative safety).
I’ve ranted long enough. I appreciate this is a v long post, all about me, so THANK YOU.
Hi Eliop,
I like long posts because you get to the heart of the matter. In return, my reply is long, but hopefully of some use.
An employment advisor corrected some faulty official advice given me on compiling my CV for non-managerial jobhunting. I’d like to pass on some of this.
Your CV looks generally OK, although I suggest you move things around. Remember, 2 pages is the norm so make full use of the space.
Style is crucial so that an employer can see everything at a glance. I know you can’t upload an example of your CV here and your style may be OK. But, here goes nothing…. At the top of the front page, two lines under your name, centre your postal address on one line, then immediately below, centre your mobile number and email address, all in Capital letters. Do not include your Date of Birth or your Marital Status.
Each section could be as follows: linespace of 1.5 and 11 or 12 font point. Title in Capitals, underlined, (extending across the page). On the next line but indented by about 1 or 2 inches enter the relevant details.
Firstly, bring your “Key Skills” from the bottom of your CV and place it under your Personal Profile. However, where you have listed your IT skills, replace this with 5 or 6 bullet points of your professional character, eg Active Listening, Interpersonal Communication, Phone Skills, Data Entry Skills, Problem Solving, Report Writing Skills, Time Management. Place your IT skills under a sub-heading of “Additional Training” in the section “Education & Qualifications”.
Create a separate section of “Voluntary Experience” after “Work Experience” and expand a little. 5 or 6 lines description seems OK.
In your “Work Experience” section, for each job state in bold type the company name then underneath put your Job Title, tab across to right to put dates. Leave one clear linespace, then write your job description. If you went through a recruitment agency use this as the company name but include in your description the company you worked at. Seems obvious I know but…
Replace title “Education” with “Education & Qualifications”. Simply list the name of the institution, the title of the qualification, the grade, then in brackets the years you attended. Leave off the description of the course but include Module Titles relevant to the job/area you are applying for.
Spare time activities under “Hobbies and Activities”.
Anything you can do to enhance your CV? Yes, indeed. Clerical/Admin is becoming more and more specialized. Again, you may already know this. However, from your CV, you might apply for supervisor roles, ie Administrator. However, beware. Some companies advertise for an Administrator, when what they really mean is Entry-Level Plus. The pay scale helps you out. National Minimum Wage to around £6.50 per hour is Entry-Level for temporary work recruitment agencies. Permanent roles for real Administrators attract £7-£9 per hour as a starting wage. Expect to work a minimum of 40 hours per week.
In addition, you could benefit from upgrading your IT skills and tailor them to office administration work through Open Learning at your local college. I suggest OCR Level 1 New CLAIT, provides recent evidence that you are computer literate in the following areas: File Management and e-Document Production, Creating Spreadsheets & Graphs, and Database Manipulation. Level 2 focuses on PowerPoint Presentations and Microsoft Outlook. Since you claim JSA, you will only pay a minimum, eg £20. You attend the college when it is convenient for you, even evenings, you have access to a tutor but there are no set classes and you work at your own speed. If you started this month, you should be ready for your exam in June/July, based on about 5 hours a week. Remember, though, JSA rules say no more than 16 hours a week, which includes a combined total of voluntary work AND college course, and you need to inform them about any courses you are doing, even if it’s in the evening only.
New CLAIT uses Microsoft Office and is comprehensive. Do not do ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) since, in my opinion, it doesn’t teach you about office and admin house styles. You keep your workbook even after you’ve finished your course, to revise when you need. There are more specialized Open Learning courses, eg Text Processing, which really puts you to the test. I recommend your local college.
I hope this has been helpful.
@Eliop:
I think I know how you feel, though I’ve only been out of work for 4 months excluding two days and at least have family and friends too fall back on if need be (I’d be in serious rent arrears or on the street by now without them, due to how the council’s Housing Benefit office has treated me when I took an agency job then ended unexpectedly fast).
With regard to going outside the EU, for a tourist visa you’d normally need a return or onward ticket and proof you can support yourself during your journey. Non-EU Western countries are difficult to get work visas for without money I believe, even the young persons’ Aussie visa requires some funds I believe (work is meant to be “incidental” and temporary).
For China, you’d need to apply for a visa in advance for either tourism or work (not sure how strict it is – they don’t have much of a welfare state to protect) – not sure the requirements regarding having a return ticket if working.
To the two gentleman above – Thanks!
The meshing volunteer/work together wasn’t my idea, but an advisor’s suggestion! Placing key skills at the top is a much better idea – thank you; I did that straight after reading the suggestion.
IT Skills. Yeah, rather lacking, but I’m slowly trying to build them up. I agreE about the ecdl (stupid name), but sometimes get the impression people want me to get the thing. It looks very easy, so I plan to do it soon – and why not? As for the other IT courses you suggested, that seems very wise, and I’ll look into it.
Still though, I really don’t know what I should be applying to anymore. Short of volunteering, where I actually feel like I’m doing something worthwhile, I feel completely out of control. All my friends have jobs (and wonder why I don’t), and I’m really thinking there’s something I need to change, but I just don’t know what it is…
I don’t think bringing politics into it is a good idea. I’m dreadfully worried about changes in policy and legislature, so volunteering with advisory bodies at least enables me to combat the damage a little bit – damage to others. As for myself, I genuinely feel I’m making some very basic mistakes somewhere. I try quite hard, but get absolutely nowhere…
-as for 40 hour +, bring it on! – The same applies to temp work.
And, yes, I do apply to administrator stuff; mostly admin assistant stuff – actually, I have an interview for one on Friday, so FINGERS, TOES, etc CROSSED. Hopefully I won’t get nervous and turn into queen of the troll people.
I’m so frightened for my future, and being frightened doesnt help things at all.
One of the most frustrating things about being a graduate who is out of work and receiving benefits is being subjected to the popular media stereotype of what ‘the unemployed’ are like. There still seems to be too many people who are taken in by propaganda that, if you are out of work and on benefits, you must be ‘uneducated’ and/or ‘lazy’. In reality the reasons for unemployment are of course far more complex than that.
Hi Eliop,
Care work seems a good option for immediate work. Recently, my Jobcentre advisor told me that they could help me get a licence and a moped upfront to help me in my jobsearch. Have a word with your advisor.
I’m glad you found my advice useful. Regarding ECDL, nothing particularly wrong with it – its probably quicker to do and since you already have experience of MS Office, it won’t be totally foreign to you.
As for the nursing course, I’m sorry but I’m not qualified to advise you. However, I’m sure you will get some good advice here. Keep checking back.
I’ve just finished my degree and am reluctant to sign on for JSA as I feel it would be a massive step backwards.
Has anyone signed on after Uni? How was it for you? Is it a good idea?
I know I can’t survive on the remnants of my student loan forever, but I would like to try and get a job before doing what I view as ‘giving up’ and signing on.
I think it’s just a massive pride thing.
Definitely sign on. It is what it is there for. I have been on it twice. Once for a month after uni and once when I got made redundant for 6 weeks. They treat you like and idiot and you have to line up with some dodgy characters, but in the end it would only be you losing out if you do not. They will pay for you to go to interviews if it is outside your local area too.
I graduate back in 2009 and just couldn’t find anything at all for the first year, I was so desperate I would of taken anything but I couldn’t even get a cleaning job. I hated being on benefits, it was so depressing, but I needed the money to get to interviews and even though I was at home I still had expenses. I just felt like I was throwing my CV into the wind. I really felt like it was completely hopeless. I wouldn’t pick being on benefits over working, the lack of doing anything useful was crushing. I’ve had a few jobs since then none of them particularly well paid but thankfully in the sector I studied for, I’m still moving forward in my career but I still don’t earn enough to actually live on until recently. I know a lot of graduates who’ve had similar experiences to me, not one of them would choose the JSA over work paying work. What really didn’t help when I was on benefits was people telling me I was a scrounger and a drain on society, it made me loose all confidence, I was lucky to get my first job in that state of mind.
Hi
I work as a researcher for BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat. We are currently looking to speak to someone who is on JSA or out of work who, in the pursuit of their dream/ideal job, is turning down jobs that don’t meet their set ideals. Do you feel it is better to stay on JSA whilst you look for getting into your ideal career – particularly having studied hard for a degree.
Is this you? We urgently want to speak to you! Please contact me on Newsbeat@bbc.co.uk
@natalie wyatt
sound interesting – can you just reassure us that it’s not going to be another story about ‘entitled’ graduates claiming benefits because they’re too ‘snooty’ to take any job they can get? ; )
@Natalie:
You may need to offer anonymity: some claimants – depending on their Jobseekers’ Agreement and length of time out of work – may risk being sanctioned (having JSA cut off for a certain period of time) if they were to publicly admit to turning down offers of work, or limiting what they apply for.
@tanya
Basically, the government and some businesses are basically saying young people on benefits should take whatever job they are offered, to get off benefits, rather than ‘being fussy’ and holding out for a job they really want.
What I’m really looking for is someone who can counter-balance that by saying “you know what, I’m trained for / dreaming about / wanting to do x and I’m damn well going to keep plugging away until I achieve x”.
Does anyone feel that way tand would be available to contribute to the programme – looking to record tomorrow if possible.
Appeciate your tinme guys!
I think grads on JSA who would take anything – or at least most things – they are offered considerably outnumber those you describe.
I feel the benefit trap is a bigger issue – if you don’t live with your parents you can only take work that pays more than your rent, since being homeless will hardly help things.
That’s the situation I’m in – I’d take anything – assuming NMW – of 25 hours or more (possibly even 21 hours, but that may be pushing it). And so far in my life I’ve never turned down a job offer, and would like that to continue – but unless I give up on independent living and go back to my parents in the countryside, shelter has to come first.
Moreover, taking work doesn’t necessarily get someone “off benefits” especially in places with high rents like London. Most people “on benefits” (e.g. Housing Benefit, Tax Credits etc) are actually the working poor.
It’s certainly a very difficult situation facing many graduates, but ultimately I feel that reports like this one won’t actually deal with the main issue, which for most people is living costs vs wages. It may even obscure the extent of the problem.
As Alex says, even at a financial level, ‘getting any job’ doesn’t necessarily help the individual concerned. It may help the unemployment statistics though, but that is another matter entirely… Therefore, by focusing on this point it is as if we are saying: ‘problem solved, the person has a job and we can relax now’. The employment market has changed so much that those who have not been unemployed since the recession started may be shocked. ‘Working your way up’ as it used to be called is much more difficult. For graduates and others at entry level who have limited parental support, progress is determined by their ability to adapt to worse and worse conditions re. unpaid internships, zero-hour contracts, jobs that are dressed up as ‘experience’ and still subsidized by tax payers etc.
There is of course, the emotional cost of deciding on a career path, getting into tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt, finding that you have been written-off before you have begun and on top of that facing a hostile response from government and right leaning commentators. We have figures about the extent of youth unemployment, but I don’t think it’s appreciated how bad the ‘underemployment’ issue has become. This is a shame as I’m sure we will be hearing about the ‘skills gap’ in the coming years and how we will be needing more immigration.
@Tanya: As prophesied:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/graduates-miss-out-on-employment-because-they-are-job-snobs-8762345.html
Mentions recruitment “expert” talking to Radio 1 Newsbeat about graduates “choosing” to remain unemployed whilst looking for their dream job, with a rebuttal by the Shadow Employment Minister.
There may be a small number like that, but they are a minority. On BBC WM this morning another clueless recruitment “expert” gave us graduates the earth-shattering realisation that if we take one of the apparently plentiful lower level jobs in the West Midlands area (dozens to hundreds apply for each advertised entry-level vacancy here), it is possible to apply for jobs we want (which in his universe don’t require unpaid internships I guess) at night.
How could we not have thought of such a thing before? 😉 How silly of us.
Glad a old mate from uni (Ted Woodley from Youth Fight for Jobs) was brought on to rebut (but unfortunately not to debate).
In the long run it may well be better for a graduate to hold out for a somewhat decent job while working or volunteering part time than for them to take a low paid full time job and come home too tired to do decent applications for the better jobs or gain relevant work experience. As Alex said you can’t do an unpaid internship and a full time job at the same time.
Unfortunately it’s not enough to just get a job. If you want to get off benefits and provide a decent life for yourself (and potentially a family) then your focus has to be on getting a “good” job rather than being employed whatever the cost.
it’s a really tough one to judge. being on benefits is not the way to live- suppose there were no benefits? however, certain jobs (minimum wage), the kind that you don’t need a degree for in the first place, don’t really give you much of a future to be honest, in terms on being able to get on the property ladder, to have children; you know, to have a successful and professional life. you need to aim a bit higher. after being on benefits for a while, i managed to get a job in a fast food shop and was earning 12k. each day i was so tired, was finishing my shifts at 9pm and never really had a chance to apply for any ”better” jobs, despite that being my intention. I also found that a job like that can actually make your confidence worse and you get trapped in a bubble and feel no way out. so i don’t know what the solution is; i do think it’s such a shame to have graduates signing on at the jobcentre, when you see the diversity of people that need to use its services, and i think they should try, as much as they can, to find work because their reliance on the JC makes graduates look bad. I can’t bear to think how on my graduation day i thought I had the world at my feet, and in fact I have achieved nothing worthy of mention since that day.
another thing, i don’t get where these job snob graduates come from- in every job, whatever it is, you receive training and have to be shown how to do things. the only skill uni gave us was how to research and write essays and pass exams, i really can’t understand the mentality of job snobs. working i think, is much harder than studying, no matter what your subject is.