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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder what is stopping low skilled jobs being created.

93 replies

goneanddoneitnow · 21/02/2011 20:29

To make britain a better place.
The work is there.
Rubbish all over the streets.
Public buildings filthy
Not enough supervision at school.
Elderly needing help at home.
Not enough staff to help people eat and drink or reach the toilet in hospital.
Child minders for those working in other jobs.
And much more!
The people are there - all those on benefits.
The money is there - the benefit pay outs.
Many of these sorts of jobs would suit people with school age children.
Need only be part time and the workers should get top ups to give them a minimum wage and a bit more than benefit.
Would it not be fairer for more people to work 20 hours a week than some doing 40 and some none for the same income since minimum wage is about equal to benefits.

OP posts:
ScramVonChubby · 21/02/2011 21:02

Yes, which benefits? Always best to be specific: it covers an awful wide range of people.....

I am trying to find work; I dont; care what really as long as I can do it, it fits around the hours I can do (carer) or pays enough to cover the costly childcare autistic kids need.

I ahve just spent an hour looking.

Nothing to report.

Am also trying to get voluntary work so can apply for the PGCE place I have been working toweards for a decade (SEN teaching)..... cannot even find that ATM. there's a university with student teachers near us and the schools are already pised off with requests coming in.

The people offering worke xperience for the Social Work MA that I could also do want more hours than I can currenlty do (DH can take over childcare in 2012 as will work from home but with universal credit I HAVE to qualify in 2013).

And then whatever job I get I will paying through the nose for 'child'care for ds3 until I retire because of his SN and teh fact SSD put their hands over their ears and sing lalala very loudly when I ask for help.

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 21:04

Exactly, Bonsoir, but look how little the OP values such work.

Shameful.

Original poster
goneanddoneitnow · 21/02/2011 21:10

Fabby chick, why should I be working for £7 an hour wiping up poo etc to contribute to a benefit system supporting someone who will not take a job that is not of their choosing or for less than £12 an hour?

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 21/02/2011 21:12

You chose that road op.....

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 21:15

Exactly, why should you, OP? Maybe you'll get made redundant so you can go back and do your same job for £65/week.

Original poster
goneanddoneitnow · 21/02/2011 21:16

I am not belittling the types of jobs I mentioned.
I have done a lot of them myself.
I am not judginging those who take benefits. I would takesomething if offered it for nothing.
I am judging the way the goverments makes it easier and more beneficial not to work.
People should get free child care if not earing enough to pay for it.
It would make for a better society in the long run.

OP posts:
FabbyChic · 21/02/2011 21:16

Im not asking you to work for £7 an hour.

I want to be free of benefits full stop, I'm not sitting there being a qualified Accounts Technician for a pittance sorry but yabu.

My son is 17 he earns £6.13 in Asda an hour. How can any company justify paying £7 to a grown adult? Beats me.

GypsyMoth · 21/02/2011 21:16

Benefit bashing by stealth! Bad form op.

FabbyChic · 21/02/2011 21:18

gone

Do you know how hard it is to live on benefits? Are you actually aware of how much cash they get?

I don't eat, I feed my son yet cannot afford to eat myself because I don't get enough money to feed both of us.

Those on benefits are poor and live far below the poverty line.

We are not better off than those that work at all, I want to work to be better off.

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 21:18

Then go for it, OP! Get made redundant or get the sack, get on £65/week and then when Big Society goes into operation, volunteer away!

Because the problem isn't benefits, it's that government by big business = a good deal or hard work not being paid a living wage.

Original poster
goneanddoneitnow · 21/02/2011 21:19

expatin scotland it is not £65 a week. It is £65 plus accomadation and other top ups.
Several members of my family delight in telling me all the things funded by welfare that they would not get if working.

OP posts:
ScramVonChubby · 21/02/2011 21:21

Again depends on the benefit.

Carers Allowance for example is taxable AND qualified one for nothing in the way of extras (eg glasses), nada.

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 21:22

You're assuming everyone on benefits has children, gone. If they don't, it's £65/week to live on - yes, the rent is paid, but they pay water and utilities and food on that £65/week.

So why not go for it?

If you're such a big fan of Big Society, seeing as you're on £7/hour, which is more than my DH makes for doing a physical job, too, then light a little candle that you get the sack so you, too, can do your job for far less than that £7.

When the cuts hit, and your company starts making people redundant, make sure to put your head on the block first!

FabbyChic · 21/02/2011 21:23

Gone it is about the amount of cash one gets in ones pocket.

And the things one has to pay out of that.

Gas, electricity, water, rent top up, food, broadband, tv licence, telephone.

All those things add up. A single person gets £65.00 food for one person is around half that. There are no monies for luxuries, the whole point is to just get by.

If you want luxuries you work. If you want new things you work.

It is find the work that is the problem there isn't any.

GypsyMoth · 21/02/2011 21:26

WHICH BENEFIT???? IS?? ESA???

GypsyMoth · 21/02/2011 21:27

TAX CREDITS??

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 21/02/2011 21:31
ScramVonChubby · 21/02/2011 21:32

DLA? Carers? HB? CTC? pension credits (well dad works- oh those lazy pensioners Wink)

AimingForSerenity · 21/02/2011 21:37

When DS was looking for work last year he was awarded the princely sum of £25 per week! Lucky he could live at home and we could support him. Posters on this site have really opened my eyes to the struggle and deprivation some families face on benefits.

OTOH I know several people claiming benefits that I am astounded at, both in terms of even getting them and of how much they get.

It seems to me there are some very big problems in terms of the set up and the availability of some benefits.

If some of the people who do not need them were not getting them there would be enough for those in genuine need

NoSuchThingAsSociety · 21/02/2011 21:41

We need to cut public spending - CB and tax credits are my first targets.

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 21:49

MP and managerial salaries are my first target. Followed by closing tax avoidance loopholes and other universal benefits like Winter Fuel Allowance.

ScramVonChubby · 21/02/2011 21:53

I'm with ExPat.

I hope to earn a decent whack when I am 65 and even if I give up work then, Dh would never want to: why should we get a cheque for ehating when some poor soul stuck where we are now is made to feel like a state-thief for wanting to get by?

mablemurple · 21/02/2011 22:07

Why are you falling for tabloid shit?
Government does not make it either easier or more beneficial not to work in the vast majority of cases.
Perhaps you should turn your attention to employers - why do the jobs you mention only pay minimum wage, which is nowhere near enough to live on? A lot of these jobs are agency jobs - one day you're needed, next you're not, which makes it very hard to organise your life and has a knock on effect on many benefits people on minimum wage need to claim.

usualsuspect · 21/02/2011 22:08

Not another one ..how many more?

expatinscotland · 21/02/2011 22:09

Yes, usual, another one!