ONS stating UK in recession due to unemployment.

[Poppybob]

Read in news this morning, and thought was interesting as I agree that the UK can't sustain the amount of unemployment/people on benefits for much longer.

@BIWI.....really!?!?........3 long whole years not working though!?!? And when this person went back to work they actually admitted to me that they were 'out the way of working now!' and preferred having less money/ comfortable on their benefits than the 'stress' of work.

If people can't work they need to be supported, it's what makes us a civilised society.

It sounds like there are bigger questions to be asked about why there are so many younger people too ill to work at a time when they should be in the prime of their lives. That can be done without blaming individuals though.

I became a SAHM because my old job didn't feel worth the agro of juggling childcare and sick days. A lot of work is crap and I can't blame people for not leaping at the chance to do it if they've got other options.

I also agree that some employers are living in cloud cuckoo land. In my area I keep seeing the same adverts asking for someone who can be available at any time from 7 to 7 and 7 days a week.

9 million people are ‘economically inactive’, rather than unemployed. We are still in a childcare crisis whilst we await the new funded hours - so, many of those in this ‘inactive’ bracket will be stay at home parents as it makes better financial sense to look after two children at home than pay for two nursery places.

Plus, I know more than a few people who stopped working in lockdown, and haven’t gone back - and have taken early retirement.

So your family member got sick, was unable to work and claimed the benefits to which they were entitled at that time.

When they were able to they returned to work. They understandably said they were contented with less money and stress (lots of us are) but they did return to work and are presumably earning, contributing and paying tax.

That's how the system is meant to work isn't it. A safety net for when we need it and when we don't we work and provide the net for others.

One day it might be you @Poppybob or perhaps your children who will need the safety net. Do you ever think about that?

We are in recession because inflation, rising interest rates have finally stopped people spending enough to support the economy.

The UK is a debt fuelled economy without cheap debt there's no growth.

Blaming the inactive, sick, old, immigrants, woke, young is just divisive Tory tactics.... to deflect against the incompetence and arrogance of this political ideology that has never worked and never will.

No one lives comfortably on benefits, I'm a heating engineer and I see how those in poverty live and I can tell you for a fact they ain't living well. This isn't France where the state pension and unemployment benefits are large enough to support you...in this country lose your job and you are screwed.... destitute is the word. Shop door ways in our city centres are proof of that and if you take the time out of your day to talk to them you will soon realise these people are no different to you and me. Last Christmas I met a young girl sleeping rough, she hadn't eaten, was freezing cold and was desperate....I bought her lunch from pret and let her stay the night with my own family...so she could have a warm shower, and a warm bed for the night and breakfast. She was well spoken, university educated and no different from my own daughter

I'm one of the "economically inactive" but I am not on benefits. Plenty of people have ways to not work and have enough to get by and a lot of those are richer than average. Making snap judgements about why this country is not doing well without looking at those at the top and their families (in particular how they have gamed the system - see PPE scandal) is pretty dim. I certainly don't blame immigration - which we need more of for nurses and childcare - or people that can't access Mental Health care because of our political class deciding they'd rather siphon off the money to help their own.

That is weird. I am close to 50, wherever I turn up, just say Hi and am given immediately a job. You must be joking. If I was English born, in my 20s and looking for a job, I would have a career

Exactly. Or they don't even put a salary! I've seen a lot of posts on social media about how the younger generation simply don't look at those jobs because they get conned. Oh you're 20 so you can have our minimum wage, oh you're a man so you can have more, etc. It is not in anyone's interests for this to go on.

No they are off sick again ..went back to work for a few weeks after 3 years of not working and now have been off work for approximately 3-4 months now.

Ps.....I don't need a sanctimonious lecture re: benefits and homeless people etc etc .....am fully aware what benefits are for and why people might need them.

Crikey. Sorry if it came over that way.

May I gently remind you that you didn't answer my question.

Some people seem a bit naive as there is definitely a cohort of young (and older) people who either go down the anxiety road and can string that out for a long time whilst waiting for a work capability assessment (some are obviously really unwell but others just have normal levels of worry or are just parroting it) or the other sort spend ages not applying for or not getting jobs because they make zero effort and are quite content with their 292 pounds of government handout which may or may not be supplemented by well off parents, cash in hand jobs or drug dealing. I see these people every day. Obviously there are also plenty of others trying their best but on crappy zero hours contracts or living in the sticks with no transport.

I am in my later fifties and some of my friends are around this similar age. Five took early retirement during lockdown. Because of the sector we worked in we have defined benefits pensions. No one is claiming benefits. The ones that couldn’t afford it were mighty peeved. We are all doing voluntary work. Legal advice and tutoring and myself and others friends are doing stuff very far removed from our old jobs. I’m cooking in a lunch club and my mate is working as a volunteer gardener.

Of course it also means there were some vacancies made of quite decent jobs for younger folk. We were all minimum 25 years service and in some cases well over 30 in the same workplace. So that’s 5 added to those stats.

What was the question?

One day it might be you @Poppybob or perhaps your children who will need the safety net. Do you ever think about that?

That is so true regarding employer flexibility. When my children were younger there were lots of jobs that all started at 8:30 which seems like an ideal way to stop people with the responsibility for the school run applying .

Ah no not really ..... because I'll be working basically until I die.

@Poppybob what about if you become unwell?

Stop all benefits for healthy people able to work GET A JOB

The snag is that is the large rise in economic activity due to sickness.

The last government was having one its routine 2 minutes hate about malingerers just before the election, because there was a big rise in those claiming sickness benefits or reducing their hours on health grounds.

The elephant in the room is covid. People are getting the acute infection 2 or 3 times a year, with a 10% risk of long covid per infection (perhaps taking them out for work for a long period) plus increasing the incidence of stroke, diabetes, cognitive deficits and dampening the immune system for several months, so people catch every damn thing going round.

Instead of looking at whether there really is a change to the overall health of the nation, the Tories wanted to put all the blame on fraudulent claims.

It's an area which, I think, merits closer consideration. And investment in cleaner air.

That what l thought.

Then l got old.

If we made jobs less stressful people would be fine working longer

I don't think that will happen any time soon. The jobs that people saw as steady, respectable and well paid jobs of the past are now unattractive. Teachers, Nurses, Police Officers and Armed Forces all have issues with recruitment. Until these jobs become attractive again, experienced people will leave which increasingly places the people in those roles under more stress.
These are the jobs that you can't do from home and the hours are often unsociable. Working parents require more flexible working/hybrid working roles due to the costs in childcare. I feel that the key worker jobs, the ones that we all need as a society to function, are becoming increasingly unattractive.

No, it's Brexit

Are you just looking for zombie threads to resurrect so that you can post this goady stuff?