[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Gareth

What's not enough to live on? Without sounding like a heartless ass, £5.52 an hour is certainly above poverty wages. How long does said person that "can't find a job" given to look while being supported by taxpayer money that could be spent on the NHS or better Schools or roads? 2 months? 6 months? 4 years? Taking a job while continuing to look is always an option. Sliding scale top up benefits (giving people a benefit that supplements their earned income) is certainly better than dishing out the dole.

People need to be trained in legitimate skills. Government needs to help out there. Creating skilled jobs creates the gap between positions that seem to be filled by "foreigners" who are willing to work hard for less money. Welcome to the Global economy. If someone goes through school and comes out with no real education, or any marketable skills, then he is going to be competing against an eastern European that is over the moon making minimum wage. That's what you get for joining the EU. Its great for business, but sucks if you are on the bottom end of the food chain.

Encouraging people to create a little self worth by getting them out into the workplace. Personally, I think encouraging young people to start their own business would be a great thing. I am self-employed and I have never worked for anyone else. Its been a lot of hard graft. I have become successful, eventually, but there have been a lot of bumps along the way. I don't buy that someone "can't find a job".

Compared to a pensioner £5.52 per hour is above the poverty line but what about a family man with a wife and two kids?

I read recently that there are several thousand newly qualified doctors who cannot get a position so presumably they will have to sign on the dole. So what job would you allocate them?

What do you do with a 54 years old engineer/electrician/plumber/accountant etc.?

All these ‘solutions’ are coming from people in employment and of course they know it all. “I got off my backside and made something of myself, why don’t you?” is a phrase that is often bandied about by the self employed. Well not everyone can and has the ability to become self employed. But then were would the workers come from if everyone was self employed? In any case of all the thousands of new self employed some half end up bankrupt within six months. Yes there is practical help out there when starting your own business but the help is not free and just leeches away the lifeblood of the business.

You get a different perspective in the dole queue and you do the best that you can for yourself and your family.