The idea of this scheme sounds good by effectively encouraging employers to take a chance on hiring the young. But there are a few things about the scheme that do worry me:
- Where are the safeguards that the training will be up to an adequate standard - internships, apprenticeships and the like do sometimes have a reputation for effectively offering employers cheap labour that they can flog to death for a certain period. Once that person is burnt out bring they can simply bring in the next ones. Don't get me wrong though, there are good schemes and firms out there and people who move onto fulfilling roles.
- If you drop out we stop benefits, if you do such and such we stop benefits - Taking my point first point above. If through no fault of yours you end up with a bad placement and for legitimate reasons decide to quit you would not be entitled to benefits. This again smacks of the Government using what in many ways seems like a good scheme as a way to massage the job figures down. If you sign up and then discover it's not working for you you are well and truly scuppered. I do admit that there are work shy people out there who do not want to work so making sure that they do not just drop out as they can't be bothered is important too.
I have two nephews aged 26 and 24. I have helped them rewrite CVs and shared my knowledge about job hunting. The thing that struck me was that no one was helping them. No one said what was best practice or showed them how to draft a captivating CV that hits an employers button. A CV with one word bullet points tells me nothing about what you can do for an employer. With my tips my nephew started to get lots more interviews and he got a job.
Our job centres are a mere box ticking exercise and they do not have staff with the skills to advise people properly, schemes for young people such as Connexions which helped them to find jobs in an increasingly tough market have been cut so it's no wonder youth unemployment is rising and will continue to do so. Good advice and support will help young people compete.
The thin line between economic slavery and the "old fashioned" kind is disappearing, isn't it? Although what we really need to do is criminalise the unemployed, because then we can legitimately put them to work in chain-gangs building High Speed Rail and an extra runway for Heathrow. (The preferred option, here, is to cut benefit until people have no choice but to steal to survive. Voila! Instant criminals.)
ReplyDeleteYour plan, by contrast, is MADNESS. Helping people takes time, and that costs money - WHICH WE DON'T HAVE. Have you not been paying attention? And anyway, there are no jobs, which is why we're having to pay employers to take on slaves, thus enabling us to cook the figures and feel good about ourselves without having to pay more tax...
*cough*
Seriously. your nephews are lucky to have such a smart, caring Aunt looking out for them. (Gawd knows, I wouldn't/couldn't get help like that from mine. Or worse, they'd give me wrong advice.) But if you helped *everybody* out, then your nephews would have been competing with hundreds of similarly qualified candidates all with stunning CVs. So maybe it's better to spend the money buying jobs than improving the job centre.
That said, I agree with your concerns. And we'll definitely read stories of people being treated like slaves.
I think you missed the word smart, caring,hot Aunt in your description!
ReplyDeleteI used to think of you as hot. But my mental image of you went a bit pear shaped after you mentioned your "fat arse" (in the post "Just do it"). Imagination is a fickle thing.
ReplyDelete[Actually "hot" is how I feel after attempting to comment on your blog. It takes multiple clicks and reloads. It seems to be the verification process - you should enable comments from people providing only an email address.]
Anyway, I went and read the Autumn statement, and it says that the young will get "additional advisor time" and a careers interview from the National Careers Service. So there's the potential for them to get something more than the "check box" treatment. OTOH it says nothing about removing JSA, and the article you quote says, "Those who drop out without *good*reason* will lose their benefits." So maybe we're being suckered by the rhetoric.
I'm a curvy bird, black, 5'8. More athletic than literally fat.Love sports and all that.
ReplyDeleteSadly I have not read the whole autumn statement and doubt that I will as it would put me to sleep. I know there was lots of spending planned for infrastructure so hopefully the construction sector will get a boost.
Made the comments bit unverified due to your general whinging, as my main commentator I figure I should respond to your feedback :)
I didn't read the *whole* statement. :roll: However I did search for 'youth' and scan the relevant sections. Most people seem to stretch a little knowledge into an epic opinion, and I just don't wanna be like that. If people buy into my opinion I want it to be because I'm right. And research is so easy; it's just that...making yourself do it...is...soooo...damn.......HARD!
ReplyDeleteOTOH The beauty of a photoless blog is it doesn't matter how fat your arse is; my opinion of you is based on you. (Scared?) That's what I love about the internet - it doesn't matter that I'm an ugly git. It just matters whether I'm a good or bad person.