Can we stop acting like everyone has an equal capability to become well off?

Some people are simply not capable of more than low paid jobs. OP posted about the barriers to better work.
You don't even need to be on NMW to get top ups. I have seen posts on here from people on £40k+ that get UC top ups.
Blame the cost of rents and bills going up, and wages not keeping up with it. It is nothing to do with people who are doing low paid jobs.

If everyone took "personal responsibility", then who would do the low paid work?

But if and when they work FT.... Then maybe they should have personal responsibility?

I'd understand time limited benefits when you're in major trouble and need help. But are you saying it's not a person's fault if they rely on UC top ups their entire working life?

You've given up defending your idea quite quickly.
It's not easy for anyone to progress and certainly not possible for everyone to progress.

Exactly - we can't all be the MD can we?!

One of the brightest people I've ever known worked in a low wage role. She was from a poor background and was encouraged to leave school as soon as she could, A-Levels were never even an option. Low confidence too. Compare that to someone of average intelligence, goes to private school, all opportunities thrown their way. I wonder how their life is going to pan out?!

Depends where you live. My Stepson was 21 when he bought his first flat. Left school at 16 and straight into a MW job. he paid rent to his mum and then when he moved in with us he paid £30 a week. He saved every penny he could because he wanted his own place, 9 years later he has just bought his forever home, a lovely detatched Sandstone villa. He made good choices with the money he had.

Lots of people know that and work for it and still don’t advance - because there aren’t enough higher positi9n for them to do so. That’s not a criticism of you or an argument against trying - it’s just a fact.

The OP hasn’t “written anyone off” - they have stated factors of inequality which are very well documented and evidenced. There will be many cases (like yours) where it goes against this. But it doesn’t mean that structural barriers do not exist for the vast majority of the population. I would say the CEO you worked for was an exception to the rule.

I like the post up thread where they mentioned a career pyramid, rather than a ladder.
I also think some people have no concept of what a dead end job is. No pyramid, and certainly no ladder.

I saved money by working two jobs. The second job changed over time, but most of them were the kind of roles anyone could walk into off the street and do. Intellect was not required just the mindset that that type of work is not below you.

IMO there are people that make excuses and there are people that do. It wasn't luck that got me out of poverty it was knowing I wouldn't have anything unless I worked for it.

You know jolly well that's almost impossible for parents, single people or people in large cities to be self sufficient on minimum wage. Childcare alone will be almost one wage.
The good thing is that wages should be higher so you'll be happy to pay more for goods and services.

Someone needing a UC top up is not to blame. Many people needing top ups do so because of zero hour contracts where they are simply not offered enough work.
Also, AFAIK, you only get top ups if you have children. When I was in a FT NMW job, I was not entitled to anything, yet a colleague with kids (and a wife who was also on NMW) got top ups.

not. Everyone. Can.
It’s not rocket science. There are fewer jobs the further up you go.

Not even remotely what I said. If your argument had any merit such a silly response would have destroyed it. What I said was if everybody did that the6 still couldn’t all be promoted. That’s no reason not to do it, and I never said it was. What I said was some (most) will do it and still not advance.

I think if you earn NMW FT and you're happy that's fine. As long as you're self sufficient on your income and not reliant on the state for UC.... So be it, you're taking self responsibility for your life! That's awesome.

Life has never been a level playing field. Some people do manual work, others fly in other directions.

Because some people are more ambitious/brighter/better educated than others.

It’s not usually about luck.

We need both types of workers.

If someone is happy in their job that happens to be NMW, then what is the problem?
Why the pressure to earn as much money as you can? Life is so much more than that.

The barman at the pub my DP frequents is in his 40s on and NMW. He loves his job, as he loves the customers and he loves real ale.. advising people what they might like etc. Is he wrong for wanting to stay in his job? It ticks all his boxes.
Don't look down on people who have different criteria to you.

Honestly people should have some ambition to take life by the handle and better themselves.

I don’t have physical issues but I do have lack of self esteem, low confidence and I’m not the best at standing up for myself. I either start crying or get really angry so often avoid conflict in the workplace. I started from a low level, have done some training, read self help books etc so I have improved over the years. Could not afford therapy. But there is only so much I’ve been able to achieve, and I’ve had to try to make peace with this. As well as being a SAHM for a few years and then changing careers. I can see how my attributes have held me back quite a lot. I earn more than MW now but I’ve only gotten to average full time wages at this stage and I’m late 40’s. Lack of confidence can be really crippling. I guess I was born to be noble not rich.

You know what. You are right. Nobody should ever think creatively about their options or have any ambition. All the people on OP's list should just stick to NMW. I'm glad we cleared that up.

Yes there are people who face many challenges and are stuck as you say.
But your comment stating test you don’t have the leadership skills, comes across as very defeatist. Many people don’t, but work at those to develop them. These days there are endless free resources available online to help from free webinars to full courses. There are a myriad of leadership books available for example. Yes that’s one tiny part of what you’re referring to, but I’ve worked with many individuals who have faced huge personal and life adversity to get where they are.

Of course we need worker bees but those bees can develop and be replaced by the next generation of worker bees.

Im talking about ADHD in general, not a specific poster.
you need to invest some time reading up on key ADHD specialist before you post again. Dr Barkley would be the best starting point.

when we understand the ADHD brain, we have made progress. And then when we understand the difference between nature (ADHD executive functioning) and nurture (learned behaviours due to being brought up by undiagnosed parents, or poor coping mechanisms adopted because you don’t understand why you feel different and cant meet expectations) we make even more progress. This is the point at which nuerodiverse people are no longer labelled as weird, lazy, awkward, loud, etc and when some ND people can no longer hide behind an excuse or label.

There is no such thing as an ADHD brain in the way you imply. We know that certain traits are associated with certain characteristics in the brain. You can't though wrap them up in a neat package and call them an ADHD brain though. This is why you can't diagnose ADHD with a brain scan. There is too much overlap with so called NT brains. Lots of traits are linked to different brain structure such as being unusually kind or anxious. Even being rich or poor can change the size of wiring of your brain.

ADHD is a set of traits that can be expressed differently in different people. Someone that is supposedly NT can have a trait associated with Autism and ADHD that is expressed more severely than their diagnosed counterpart.

You have no idea if my relative or the poster has severe ADHD and how this presents yet you are desperate to assign all their undesirable behaviour to this. Why?

You are making the common error of thinking unemployment amongst certain groups and in certain sectors equates to a large pool of ready labour where it is needed.
Jobs in social care, retail, construction and hospitality are not easy to fill, because just because they are within the capabilities of a large number of people, doesn't mean that lots of people are prepared to do them.
You are also missing the point. People are saying that no one needs to be on NMW for life. That with effort and hard work anybody and everybody can 'better themselves'.
The questions being asked are, if everyone did this, where would all the 'better jobs' come from so we could all have one, and who would do the NMW ones?
The idea that there's going to be a conveyer belt of young people doing them as a stepping stone doesn't work. We have an aging population, so even if we could depend on the flow of young people willing to serve their time in a care home en route to being a solicitor or whatever they've trained for, there still isn't going to be enough of them to fill all the jobs at that end of the market, meaning we will always rely on people not progressing.

So if every young person who got a part time job in a bar did the sommelier or mixologist courses, coukd they all get better paid jobs? No, they couldn’t. Because there are more basic bar staff needed than experts. So they could all work really hard and get an education and some of them would still have to be staff on the basic pay rate.