The ones giving it "there's loads of jobs"
When was the last time YOU job hunted? When was the last you job hunted when you had certain factors against you - childcare, caring responsibilities, illness and disability, not having a car or good public transport locally, having a learning disability etc?
Then also look PROPERLY at what "all those jobs" are
Are they full time or part time? Are they permanent roles? How good are the employers? What are the pay and conditions? Are they jobs people with childcare etc to consider can do? What are the entry requirements (these seem to have gone INSANE in recent years!)? Are they jobs someone with health issues can do? (Eg me sister and dd cannot do jobs involving long periods on our feet, dd and I cannot do jobs involving heavy lifting this is due to disability)
I had this conversation several years ago with my father when myself, my sister, my dd and my cousin were all job hunting at the same time. We all of course had different skills and qualifications, different availability and other life commitments.
Dad was also merely going off "there's loads of jobs in the local paper"
So I sat with him and went through EVERY job not only in the local paper but the online recruitment sites and pointed out to him why the various jobs weren't ones we could apply for or do or were very unlikely to get if we applied as we didn't have the qualifications/experience the employer was insisting was essential.
He had no idea how zero hours jobs worked. He had no idea how childcare hours worked. He had no idea of how hard it was to get to certain addresses if you didn't drive/have a car (he'd always been a driver) not only for the interview but to do the job going forward, he had no idea how low wages were compared to cost of living, how the benefits system worked etc etc etc
Then as now many of the "loads of jobs" advertised are for just a few hours a week which isn't enough to live on BUT the employers expect employees to be "flexible" aka they don't want to give employees enough CONTRACTED hours to be eligible for annual leave, sick pay etc BUT they really DO want those employees to do enough "overtime" so that in reality they're doing a full time job for poor pay and no rights!
Dad a former union rep but retired at this point and also utterly clueless as to the decimation of employee rights in recent years
Many times when I explained certain things eg zero hours contracts he would exclaim "that cannot be legal!" And I explained to him that unfortunately it now was.
Then there are the stats where it's not simply the number of vacancies available but the number of unemployed people in comparison.
At this time I checked and learned that there were approximately 3.5 times more people looking for work than vacancies available - and that was all vacancies inc 4 hours a week nonsense. That was also Tory govts own figures the real figures were worse because they weren't including under 21's, the disabled, sahp with children under 5 years old...basically they were only including those on benefit solely for the reason of being unemployed.
It's really really not as simple as "there's loads of jobs out there"
Once I had broken it all down for dad he understood what a nightmare it was and was far more sympathetic and less critical and bless him tried to find info on jobs that we could do.
It wasn't a case of us being "fussy" we were all applying for any and every job that we could physically do, that we had the basic entry requirements for and could get to, we weren't only looking locally either we were looking as far afield as nearest big city which is about 30 odd miles away and would have involved a hell of a commute!
easily three quarters of the shops/ cafes/ restaurants had signs up asking for staff.
These are jobs only the very physically fit can do. They all also involve hours that are outside those normally covered by childcare. They also are usually part time temporary positions - a lot of employers also now do this sneaky thing of hiring on a temporary basis, releasing employees at the end of that contract, hiring someone else on a temporary basis for the same job, then releasing them at end of contract and then I think it's after a 6 month period of not employing them they can re-hire the 1st employee - again on a temp contract and the cycle repeats.
This means they aren't having to invest in training "new" people but also aren't having to again meet the costs of providing sick pay etc. it also means IF the role becomes redundant they aren't having to pay redundancy pay.
Where I live this is common practice so employees rotate around 3-4 different employers in order to stay in work - but they aren't getting any employee rights! So if they take sick/get pregnant etc they're screwed!!
Obviously I know it's not everyone's first choice but it's a start
It's not just a matter of choice. Older people not yet at retirement age and the disabled cannot physically do those jobs.
I've done all kinds of jobs over the years! Never been fussy everything from production line and waitressing (when I was fit for it! I loved waitressing and WISH I could do it now!) to healthcare to admin to call centre to civil service to childcare... (another role I would LOVE to be able to do now)
There simply aren't enough jobs available to meet the needs of all those that are unemployed/economically inactive.
This means it's an employers market they're the ones being fussy!
I've seen shelf filling and waitressing roles advertised as requiring MINIMUM education of highers (roughly equivalent to a-levels) which is just stupid! These are jobs I was doing at 14 perfectly capably! I know people doing those roles now who agree that such high requirements of applicants is unnecessary and is merely a way of limiting numbers of applicants.
Again to those saying "there's loads of jobs" some of the online sites show how many applicants per job (and bear in mind often the ONE job is advertised across multiple platforms) and locally to me most jobs the number of applicants is mostly in the hundreds and occasionally in the thousands!
Since I started I have noticed a huge increase in the amount of jobs that are “job start scheme” only. Which is a great initiative for those aged 16-24. But means everyone 25+ can no longer apply or be considered for those jobs.
I'm guessing this is because the employers get some kind of financial reward from the govt for focusing on employing youngsters? Over and above the fact that nmw is lower for youngsters I mean - which should also be illegal!
If you're doing the same job you should get the same pay!
Part of the problem is that people looking for jobs don't have the right skills for the jobs available- so I think more training opportunities and support for people retraining would be more helpful
Govt cuts mean many college courses and even whole colleges have vanished! My local one is hanging on by the skin of its teeth, down to 1/3 of the courses they were offering 10 years ago
When I suggested voluntary work or a training course not provided by them I was warned that I might not qualify as 'available for work' and may have benefits cut
Yep! Been there! Ludicrous!
So if you're unemployed and fit for work you're being asked to look for work?
More accurately if you're unemployed and fit for work you're expected to apply for jobs you've no chance of getting wasting both the applicants and the recruiters time, fit for work assessments are being done by people unsuitably qualified for the role - and that's before you even get into the outright LIES told by assessors on official reports, quotas for getting people off benefits (especially disability benefits) etc
On any given thread about benefits the claim about people being on them for years and not bothering to work is always made.
Yep
Yet to actually come across this in real life on more than very very rare occasions and even on those occasions knowing the people concerned I suspect there are undiagnosed health issues at play. One man I know supposedly like this is barely literate! I suspect possible learning disability.
it becomes extremely hard to find 35 hours worth of job searching activity to do
Yea there comes a point where you've already applied for all the jobs you could do.
I was told I was over qualified and asked why I had applied in the first place
This is a major issue for me. I hold 2 degrees but my health means I'd really be best off with a basic admin assistant role but employers think I'm at it and will be off as soon as I can get "something better"
I'm actually very loyal as an employee and providing employer is a decent sort will stick with them through thick and thin and go above and beyond wherever I can - my refs back this up. But either I miss the degrees off my cv and it looks like I have 3 huge gaps on my cv (the 3rd gap being health related) OR I mention the degrees and they see me as "overqualified won't stay"
Then there's the health stuff - Mh mostly so if I mention it the stigma and lack of understanding usually works against me (even with employers that CLAIM to be disability and even mental health welcoming) OR I don't mention it and they notice the gap in dates again!
In addition do you know that this govt has done precious little to work with our industries to CREATE jobs?
That the elimination of certain employee rights mean that even those in full time employment are doing the work of 2/3 people - if employee rights were reinstated and regulated then situations like this would mean 1/2 vacancies were created
I suspect people saying "there's loads of jobs" and "just take any job" haven't actually been in this position in recent years.
Exactly my point
*They sound very enthusiastic on the phone and get invited for interview but they don't turn up.