This country as gone into terminal decline

[Carmes]

I have 2 young children in school.

I am becoming more and more anxious about what sort of jobs / careers they will have open to them.

I work for very large company with 10,000s of employees.

20 years ago whe I started work here there would be 100s of entry level jobs at any given time. These are jobs that don't require experience or a degree, ideal for a school leaver, and I know dozens of people who started their career this way.

Now there are maybe 10 jobs that would fit the same criteria.so. All the jobs have been offshored.
Now are the vacancies are for very specific technical skill set or experience.

This doesn't bode well for someone who has left school at 18'or even university.

@Carmes most modern jobs that are worth having require some sort of training, and therefore many entry-level jobs are now filled via the apprenticeship route. All medium to large employers are required to pay an apprenticeship levy, and the majority aim to recoup this by employing apprentices. Does your company have an Early Careers page outlining details of this entry route?

The problem as I see it is that many parents and teachers don't fully understand how the modern job market works, or how competitive it is, so they mis-advise the children in their care. Many indulgently bekieve that if a young person studies "what they love" then life will fall into place. Instead, it is better to reflect on what skills the country/world actually needs and gently encourage your children to take an interest in relevant activities, such as coding, engineering, maths, critical thinking skills, or practical vocational subjects like DT. There will always be a need for arts and humanities graduates, but employers are no longer willing to pluck out "any degree" candidates and send them on coding courses when they can do the same but cheaper with level 3 apprentices.

Your 2 kids will be just fine if they buckle down at school and get an education behind them. Plenty of jobs available in healthcare and other sectors.

When the state pension was introduced the life expectancy past pensionable age was about 2years. Now it’s more like 20.

Pensioners are the wealthiest demographic group and yet state pensions are protected by the triple lock.

Asking young people who graduate with student loans to support wealthy people who own all the housing equity in this country is immoral.

This is a lazy trope . I'm sure pensioners have earnt their state pension by working to pay for the pensioners of their time .
Far too many on the sick , mental health is the bad back of today . We are also paying for the feckless draining resources not just in benefits but services propping up their chaotic lives .

Both my young teens have already decided that their future is elsewhere. Both bright (top sets) and looking at computer science or engineering. DS has been learning Polish because he thinks he’ll be heading over that way, DD has been attempting both Korean and Mandarin, but isn’t sure how she’d get on as a woman over there. The US is their backup. It’s frustrating that they’re having to do French at school and not a more useful language tbh.
For reference, we have no connection to any of these countries. And none of this has come from me!

I agree with the state of the UK.

Low standards, low morals little expectation, selfish attitudes, consumerism at any cost, a reluctance to take jobs with unsocial hours or that are ‘hard’ and if you want to have nice things, just steal. Chaotic and a breakdown in society. Police/schools are picking up for the many layers of support that has been removed by the last government. People steal and get away with it.

The high street, for instance, is poor due to people not using it, preferring cheap Chinese tat without any thought for the wider impact.

Europe doesn't feel like that. People shop, socialise, high streets and markets are thriving through a quality offer. They grow and sell their own.
Businesses are thriving, people meeting and caring about each other and their community.

Without Brexit, I would have moved to Europe.

@Bushmillsbabe I know a lot of healthcare, engineering, science degrees do have long hours. My brothers did medicine, engineering and DH is a scientist.

I did a social science degree, utterly looked down on by my family as deemed too easy. I am Chinese and they tell you exactly what they think. It was easy. I went to an RG University had about 7 to 8 contact hours a week and then read around my subject. I’m a fast reader.

Achieved a 2:1 with virtually zero effort.

We are encouraging DD to look at US for universities.

@Bizarred exactly but yet many still think the feckless are having too many babies 🤦‍♀️

As an Asian immigrant, it's surreal to see the UK becoming more Asian in some ways:
Multi generational living
GP having to provide childcare because it's too expensive
Parents having to support DC way into adulthood both financially and emotionally.

I have defied the Asian in me and advised both my DC not to have kids. They wont have a good life.

Did I read that 25% of money going to a Local Authority is paid in pension to former employees?
This cannot be sustained.

Well, I had to do that in 2022 in the UK so a few of us are already there tbf. The NHS is OK in emergencies but if you have a disease it refuses to treat you're goosed!

Please see my earlier response to your similar post.

Have you not noticed the major shift in demographics in the last couple of decades? We have far, far more elderly retired who are living far, far longer than their parents did. There are proportionally far less working people. The figures do not add up anymore, hence the immigrants!

That’s your one company. There is a major skills gaps in the energy efficiency industries where we will need entry level . There are loads of apprenticeships out there. Construction again massive gap.

This is a lazy trope . I'm sure pensioners have earnt their state pension by working to pay for the pensioners of their time .
Far too many on the sick , mental health is the bad back of today . We are also paying for the feckless draining resources not just in benefits but services propping up their chaotic lives .

No it isn’t a lazy trope, reread what you said. Think logically about how much tax you would have to pay to fund a state pension and a free healthcare model & average salaries. It’s fine when the group paying it forward is bigger not when it starts switching.

The reason why there are no new jobs is because the economy has stalled.

The reason the economy has stalled is because there is no growth.

The reason there is no growth is because there are fewer immigrants doing the low-level unskilled jobs that growth relies on.

evonomies are built from the ground up; the British dont want to pick fruit, and there are fewer immigrants to pick the fruit. The fruit does not get picked and it impacts the top of the economy pyramid. It’s basic economics GCSE.

It’s certainly not the norm in the part of Europe where I live.

'I'm sure pensioners have earnt their state pension by working to pay for the pensioners of their time.'
You are sure? You are wrong. They haven't paid anywhere near enough if you actually look at the figures. Indeed, many women barely worked at all.

Again, we have a major demographic problem.
Why do you think so many people are claiming sick benefits? Think about it.

I'm sure I'll get scorned but one of the major issues with this country is that there are so many British people AND immigrants on benefits, excluding those who are disabled or long term ill, who just don’t seem interested in working. I know people personally who have never set foot in a workplace and still get nearly the same as I earn in a month. It’s frustrating, because if more people were working instead of relying on government support, it would massively benefit the economy.

For one, more people in work means more taxes being paid, which increases government revenue and reduces the strain on public funds. Those funds could then be reinvested into things we all rely on like schools, the NHS, or infrastructure rather than going to support people who could work but choose not to.

Secondly, when people work, they spend more money. This increases demand for goods and services, which helps businesses grow, creates even more jobs, and stimulates the economy overall. In contrast, benefits don’t generate the same level of economic activity, as they’re only just enough to cover essentials.

The government really needs to implement a scheme to motivate and support people into work. Whether it’s better training programs, stricter rules for those who can work, or making work pay more than benefits, something needs to change. If everyone who could work did work, it wouldn’t just be fairer it would help the country thrive and benefit the future of our children.

All the jobs have been offshored
Management speak is just ridiculous and non-sensical! Are the jobs being managed by an oil-rig or wind turbine?

I work in benefits for elderly people and the amounts a lot of them are getting in benefits is staggering. I know there are some living on basic state pensions but really working in this area of work has been a real eye opener. I have no idea how the country isn't bankrupt ! I met one lady a few months ago who had been claiming state pension and all the pension credit top ups, housing benefit , all council tax paid etc for 35 years ! Obviously not everyone lives that long but many do.

Correct. The telegraph broke the story a few days back.

ive also seen stats saying 1 in 5 will be employed by the state in a few years. Hence the graph I posted up thread about government spending. The cost and then associated costs when those workers retire are astronomical.

If most people, either in full time work or not, are being topped up by Universal Credit, then why not implement UBI? As this is basically what universal credit is at this point. It would cost less to implement than the various benefits that are processed. It would also boost the economy as it frees people up to work and means they're not trapped on benefits.

If the economy is as bad as it is, why can't we rejoin the EU? Surely this would solve the growth issue overnight.

I don't understand why we don't do these things. It's as if nothing ever happens, nothing changes. We just stagnate. That's what I hate about the UK.

We're always going to need health care professionals and carers. Maybe your children would like to go down that route OP.

Where do you live?