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To think we need to start talking about the lack of jobs?

596 replies

Newmeagain · 27/06/2026 21:57

This is prompted by quite a few threads I have read recently, from parents of young people looking for jobs or posters themselves struggling with finding a job.

I feel like a lot of responses are completely out of touch and people are not aware how hard it is right now. There are no “supermarket jobs” etc that you can just pick up.

I think this is having a particularly significant impact on school leavers and graduates looking for their first full time job, students wanting part time work and also anyone over 50 who suddenly finds themselves unemployed.

OP posts:
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PoliteSquid · 28/06/2026 06:41

I read these threads frequently as the proud parent of my teenage sons who are both struggling to find work. One has 2 hours a week working as a cleaner, the other has just started a UC claim.

Lots of people on here posting about care work or early years… as you can imagine those employers are unlikely to employ men, never mind 18/19 yo men!!

PoliteSquid · 28/06/2026 06:33

Funkylights · 27/06/2026 22:57

Care homes and early years need people. As do construction., In my area very hard to get a gardener or cleaner. Or other trades

And yet where I live every day people are posting on social media desperate for construction jobs having completed their college/apprenticeship.

Phonicshaskilledmeoff · 28/06/2026 06:24

Newmeagain · 27/06/2026 21:57

This is prompted by quite a few threads I have read recently, from parents of young people looking for jobs or posters themselves struggling with finding a job.

I feel like a lot of responses are completely out of touch and people are not aware how hard it is right now. There are no “supermarket jobs” etc that you can just pick up.

I think this is having a particularly significant impact on school leavers and graduates looking for their first full time job, students wanting part time work and also anyone over 50 who suddenly finds themselves unemployed.

Walking down a couple of local high streets recently and the amount of empty shops - places that were well established is scary.

Whodunnit508 · 28/06/2026 06:23

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What a load of nonesense.
if anything I’ve seen people of a retirement age doing entry level jobs (which perhaps in the past would be done by young people, i.e. supermarkets etc) possibly to top up their state pension to be able to survive

SomeoneIsWrongOnTheInternet · 28/06/2026 06:04

The only hope on the horizon is that those Indian nurses are getting fed up with the bureaucracy here needed to do the simplest things - needing risk assessments filled out for each piece of medication to be given - and the stress of insecure employment on low pay and many are planning to go back. Some have already sent their kids back, or never brought them because of what they see as inadequate education and the appalling levels of care they provide here. They want to go back somewhere where professional workers are still held in some esteem and value. But with a country of 1.4 billion cheap pre-trained workers effectively in a free movement scheme with Britain, they will be replaced by…. More Indians. We need to train our own and give them jobs, and actually value them.

Well done Brexiteers. Ditch reciprocal free movement with the EU and get one with India which no one here can afford.

i don’t know how anyone didn’t hear about that clause in the Indian free trade deal btw it was all over the headlines.

SomeoneIsWrongOnTheInternet · 28/06/2026 05:57

GetAbsOrDieTrying · 28/06/2026 00:18

Have you gone to an NHS hospital?! Full of Indians! You do realise with a country like India which has more than one billion in population and churns out qualified people with a strong work ethic some are bound to end up here! They come to study and then stay on to work, or are brought here by UK companies who want to bring skilled talent in. A lot of the nursing staff also comes from India. Maybe educate yourself and don’t be racist.

Yep the nurses are mainly Indians in my local hospital. Senior nurses and above - locals. And healthcare - some foreigners, but mostly locals. Upper and lower echelons locals, the middle gateway Indian. And you don’t see a problem with that?

Because I can assure you that many of the low healthcare echelons would like to go on to do nursing and have a chance at a decent life but they can’t. Many would be very good, better than the Indians who themselves are very good. Paying 60000 to do a nursing degree and have to work on the wards for free? Do the work they’re doing now, but instead of being paid and using that to pay bills, actually have to pay to do that work and run up huge debts instead?

How? Actually how? When you have bills to pay?

And then you come out of that degree and there’s no jobs, and you only have a year or so to find one before that degree becomes worthless? Qualifications used to be for life, showing your ability and potential for life. Now they cost a fortune and are worthless.

Meanwhile those Indians have trained for a very cheap cost or none at all, and can do the work at a lower price.

We do indeed need to be able to talk about what is happening in our own country and I am sick of foreigners telling us we can’t talk in our own country because it’s ’racist’ or for any other reason.

OneUniqueSquid · 28/06/2026 05:49

I think the fact you said this thread was prompted by several other threads talking about how hard it is to find jobs suggests people are talking about it.

A lot.

Veronyk · 28/06/2026 05:30

There are so many Indian workers suddenly because of the new India Young Professionals Scheme: Allows Indian citizens 18–30 with a degree to live and work in the UK for 2 years. They can take any job, not just a "professional" one.

Nature1nurture · 28/06/2026 04:40

I agree - exploitation of foreign workers but grossly unfair to British people who desperately need jobs.

Nature1nurture · 28/06/2026 04:38

Skilled jobs where the U.K. doesn’t have enough people with the right skills - fair enough. But there are lots of unskilled low wage jobs e,g, retail, hospitality that used to be done by British people which are now being occupied by people who have come to the U.K. very recently.

Do we need these low skilled workers from abroad or are businesses finding them cheaper to employ? Is this why British people can’t find minimum wage jobs & have to resort to benefits?

It’s really important to understand what is going on in the U.K.

AurielleBaies · 28/06/2026 04:09

Nature1nurture · 28/06/2026 04:01

Noticed a large number of staff were Indian in a clothes shop in Guildford recently. All the car park attendants at the train station were African. Total lack of any British people who used to do these jobs.

I find it shocking that in an age of AI, businesses are being allowed to recruit/import employees from abroad and these jobs are not being advertised to local British people.

In my previous jobs, I have done a lot of work with people overseas. They could work on projects for day, £3 an hour. We could have hired a local agency or freelancer to do the work, but that would have been significantly more expensive.

Meanwhile the CEO of the company spent every summer on his yacht.

It’s all money making and exploitation. I felt extremely uncomfortable working with these lovely and talented people who produced fantastic work for such a small wage.

Nature1nurture · 28/06/2026 04:01

Noticed a large number of staff were Indian in a clothes shop in Guildford recently. All the car park attendants at the train station were African. Total lack of any British people who used to do these jobs.

I find it shocking that in an age of AI, businesses are being allowed to recruit/import employees from abroad and these jobs are not being advertised to local British people.

Gettingbysomehow · 28/06/2026 03:28

Depends what industry you are in. There is a national shortage of podiatrists. Ive been asked to stay after retirement and I will. Ill work to 70 if Im fit enough.

Atleastitsnotsunstroke · 28/06/2026 03:09

tilypu · 27/06/2026 22:23

My lodger has a first class degree in computer science.

She has applied to literally hundreds of jobs. She doesn't get retail or hospitality jobs because she's seen as overqualified and will not be planning to be there long term.. She doesn't get computing jobs because the market has crashed. She doesn't get computing-adjacent jobs because she lacks experience.

So no, it's not because she's not willing to do the jobs. She's currently working part time as a cleaner. A job she only got because she volunteers for the organisation and they know how hard she's been trying.

Would she set up a business? My friend with 1st class CS did that and sold it and retired late 30s!

rainingsnoring · 28/06/2026 03:06

RosieSpring · 28/06/2026 03:05

RTFT.

I read the first page and saw that you had not replied. Instead of being rude, why don't you link your response? I don't have time to read hundreds of posts just to search for your replies.

rainingsnoring · 28/06/2026 03:06

HoskinsChoice · 28/06/2026 02:57

And your last sentence tells us everything we need to know. There are jobs... but people don't want to do them.

Is that really your only conclusion from what the pp wrote?!

He/she said 'There are usually jobs in care but it’s not for everyone.'

Do you think that everyone is suited to care work?
Are you trying to blame the victim here? It sure sounds like it.

RosieSpring · 28/06/2026 03:05

rainingsnoring · 28/06/2026 03:03

Why can't you talk about it?
Why Indian people specifically? Are you talking about companies choosing to outsource jobs abroad so that they can enjoy larger profits or about highly educated Indian people in well paying jobs?

RTFT.

rainingsnoring · 28/06/2026 03:03

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Why can't you talk about it?
Why Indian people specifically? Are you talking about companies choosing to outsource jobs abroad so that they can enjoy larger profits or about highly educated Indian people in well paying jobs?

HoskinsChoice · 28/06/2026 02:57

WaneyEdge · 27/06/2026 22:42

I think this depends whereabouts in the country you are. I’m NW and there is nothing. Supermarkets aren’t taking on. The big Argos here closed and they now have a small base in the Sainsbury’s. Loads of pubs have closed. Pizza Hut closed. Not many apprenticeship programmes that would actually lead to being properly qualified in a trade. Everywhere is running with fewer staff.

It makes me very worried for the future of teen DN. When I was her age, my friends and I would be going round town on a Saturday, looking in all the shops, some of us got jobs in those shops. Pretty much all gone now.

There are usually jobs in care but it’s not for everyone.

And your last sentence tells us everything we need to know. There are jobs... but people don't want to do them.

SquirrelGG · 28/06/2026 02:57

oliviaAustin · 27/06/2026 22:01

Current student here. I’ve been doing temp work all summer for various companies from car park stewarding to admin cover. Obviously areas vary but I do wonder if people just don’t know where to look.

I'm not in the UK but unemployment is a big issue here. I took voluntary redundancy from my last full time job and did temp work for several years, doing all sorts of things - which I enjoyed far more than my office job btw. I could have been working every day if I wanted to. I agree, people don't think outside the box sometimes.

keepswimming38 · 28/06/2026 02:55

In relation to jobs being filled by Indians. You can actually say this is a fact for nursing jobs. There were big recruitment drives abroad by the nhs and they took on a significant amount of Indian qualified nurses. Now in the city the student nurses can only secure 18 hour contracts instead of full time contracts. It’s completely bonkers that we’ve spent money and time training uk nurses that we now can’t give jobs to!

IsEveryUserNameBloodyTaken · 28/06/2026 02:46

fiestatime1 · 28/06/2026 01:54

It’s very niche so trying not to be outing but office work basically, a mix of admin, call centre type bits
30k salary, 8-4, no weekends or shifts

Oh I’m surprised that you have candidates pulling these stunts then.

MaidOfSteel · 28/06/2026 02:27

Im told that the organisation which provides the home care for my sister, presumably subcontracted by the council, recruits exclusively in Africa. If similar companies are all doing the same, could that be why there appear to be so few jobs advertised, even though it’s said we’re crying out for carers?

FTBregret · 28/06/2026 02:13

starstar84 · 28/06/2026 01:06

Also notice this in London. Restaurant staff and bar staff, in many cases all of them are Indian. A real marked increase.

Also in London and have noticed the same. What surprised me more was visiting my parents town up North, I noticed a big change in hospitality staff demographics -now mostly Indian.

I was recently on holiday in Germany and had visited two McDonald’s, customers were white but all staff were Indian at both places

before anyone accuses me of racism I’m British Asian and simply stating my own experiences. I have definitely noticed a difference in past few years with significant increase in Indian hospitality workers

On Reddit work forums people claim when Indians join workplace they will then only hire their own. It feels bit unfair to say, but perhaps there is some truth in it.

I work for a large corporate company (British company too) and the IT department has a very large portion of Indian workers. We of course have other nationalities working here but no other group is overrepresented

Goatsarebest · 28/06/2026 01:54

LivelyGreyShark · 28/06/2026 01:50

To be fair tech consulting is your KPMG, Deloitte etc etc all of whom used to take on hundreds of graduates every year and have now offshored those positions to India and are in the process of replacing even those jobs with AI. And yet the Labour Government are still keen to announce new schemes for immigrants whilst ignoring the fact that young people are finding it hard to find jobs - why would they do that? Follow the money, the billions the government are pouring into AI is being headed up by Ewan Blair.

1984 living in Yorkshire
Who gave a shit
Exactly why we should gove a shit now

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