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For those of you who aren't intimately familiar with the UK legal system...
There was a time when if you didn't have gainful employment, you either
became a thief, or you starved to death. That time was several centuries
ago. More recently, if you were unemployed, you could claim
"unemployment benefit" from the government, meaning that they basically
pay you enough money to live off until you can find another job.
The trouble is, that lead to a generation of people who had no
/intention/ of ever doing an honest day's work, and just spent their
lives lounging around, sponging off the government. [At least, assuming
you believe the mass media.] In other words, it has the exact same
problem as the hundreds of other benefits schemes that preceded it:
Trying to help the people who /actually/ need it, without benefiting the
people who just want to cheat the system.
The stereotype goes that kinds from poor families go to school, don't
apply themselves, dos around, don't turn up half the time, drop out of
school with no skills or qualifications, and go on to spend a lifetime
living off government handouts and nicking cars for amusement. Even if,
by some miracle, someone offers them a job, they turn up for maybe a
week or two, and then can't be bothered with it any more. Because hey,
why /work/ for a living, when you can just sit on your arse and still
get paid?
Then there are the people who get the chance to take on a job, but
"legitimately" turn it down because the job actually /pays less money/
than being unemployed. In an ideal world, no such jobs would exist in
the first place. Doing productive work should /always/ pay more money
than doing nothing. But that's apparently not how the real world works.
(Especially if you lack skills to go into highly paid jobs.)
Basically the benefits have to be high enough that honest people don't
starve to death just because they genuinely can't find work right now,
and yet not so high that lazy people decide to live off them their whole
lives...
This has always been and always will be the problem that any benefits
scheme faces. Helping the people who deserve to be helped, without
discouraging people from helping themselves.
OK, so where am I going with this? Well, as you know, I am now
unemployed. Right now I have a stackload of money in my bank account.
Owing to the levels of WTFness at my ex-employer, I am essentially
getting my usual monthly wages paid until the end of the year, even
though I'm not doing any work. Plus I just got a large lump sum paid
into my account. So right now, I have more money than I've had in years.
Of course, once I stop getting paid, all of that is going to change. In
short, it's time to sign up for some benefit money from the government.
Now, the government scrapped "unemployment benefit" a long time ago.
They no longer pay you to just "be unemployed". Because we don't want
that. If there's some specific reason why you genuinely /cannot/ be
employed, there's a number of benefits different benefits for that,
depending on what the reason is. Otherwise, they pay you "jobseeker's
allowance" (JSA).
Now JSA is basically a different name for the same thing. (This is
government, right?) The basic idea is that they are not being you to "be
unemployed"; they are paying you to "seek jobs".
When I did this ten years ago, the difference is that you have to check
in twice a month and convince the [very irritable, probably poorly-paid]
government employees that you /really are/ trying to get a job. And the
government reserves the option to /force/ you to take a specific job.
And if you fail to do any of these things, they stop paying you.
Well, on Friday I went to get JSA again. Unsurprisingly, in ten years,
the process has changed somewhat. On the one hand, I am going to get a
piffling amount of money which almost pays for my petrol costs. (It
won't even touch the costs of the loan for my car.) On the other hand,
it appears that I've just signed up for a full-time job: finding a job!
Essentially it seems that in order to claim JSA, you have to be working
5 hours per day trying to get hired. So if you work it out, 5 hours per
essentially, I am now in full-time employment by the UK government, for
about half the legal minimum wage. Isn't that fantastic? :-/
Still, hopefully this state of affairs won't persist long. [At least, I
damned well hope not!]
So what can you actually /do/ for five hours every single day which will
actually increase your chances of getting hired? Well, there's a
government-run jobs site, which I have to check at least twice per week.
(I strongly suspect that a /very/ tiny fraction of the jobs they list
are for anything highly-skilled like computing, but we'll see.) I have
to check either the print version or the website of two specific local
newspapers every week. I have to perform searches of [unspecified] sites
such as Total Jobs - and I have to do that /daily/. (Because hey, it's
not like they only get a few new jobs per month... oh, wait.) On top of
that, I have to somehow find and register with at least three jobs
agencies [Because those aren't a total waste of space... oh, wait.] and
I have to hassle them at least once per week.
In short, I have to do a whole crapload of work, very little of which is
likely to actually get me hired. On the other hand, the only "proof" I
have to supply is that I wrote on a sheet of paper that I did this. I
could literally just /invent/ this stuff out of thin air, and nobody
would ever know. [OTOH, if they find out, presumably I'm going to jail
for a decade or two, after which I will never be employed ever again.]
Having just said all that, it's now nearly 11AM on Monday morning, and I
haven't done /any/ of my appointed activities yet. So I suppose I'd
better go get on with it. :-S
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On 9/17/2012 2:38, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> Having just said all that, it's now nearly 11AM on Monday morning, and I
> haven't done /any/ of my appointed activities yet. So I suppose I'd better
> go get on with it. :-S
I suggest checking out Craigslist daily. That's the only site where I ever
applied to a job and got an answer, let alone an actual job.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"They're the 1-800-#-GORILA of the telecom business."
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On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:38:27 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On the other hand, it appears that I've just signed up for a full-time
> job: finding a job!
Yep, finding a job is a full-time job. Most people don't get paid at all
to do it, either.
You've got a severance package, don't wait for it to run out. Start now
and don't give up.
> essentially, I am now in full-time employment by the UK government, for
> about half the legal minimum wage. Isn't that fantastic? :-/
Nope, you're not employed by the UK government. You're receiving a
taxpayer-paid "benefit" to help you while you look for work. It's not
intended to replace a full wage.
For me here in Utah, I could get unemployment benefits, but they only
come to $1400/month, just barely enough to cover my mortgage. But if I
make any money during a period, I have to deduct that from the benefit.
So for me, if I'm claiming unemployment, I'm not getting my bills paid or
not eating.
I suggested contract work before, and I'll suggest it again. It's a way
to get the bills paid, and in the UK you don't have to worry so much
about health coverage. If I break a leg or am in an auto accident, I'm
pretty much screwed.
Jim
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Am 17.09.2012 17:52, schrieb Jim Henderson:
> For me here in Utah, I could get unemployment benefits, but they only
> come to $1400/month, just barely enough to cover my mortgage. But if I
> make any money during a period, I have to deduct that from the benefit.
Here in Germany it's somewhat similar, but you only have to deduce any
money you make in excess of 100 EUR/month. (At least that's for people
who have been unemployed quite a while, or only did contract work in the
recent years; for people who have just been released from regular
employment, I think it's a bit more.)
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> Essentially it seems that in order to claim JSA, you have to be working
> 5 hours per day trying to get hired. So if you work it out, 5 hours per
> essentially, I am now in full-time employment by the UK government, for
> about half the legal minimum wage. Isn't that fantastic? :-/
Just for giggles, how much would a job bagging groceries or delivering
pizzas, or selling nails at the harwdware store pay for 5hrs/day,
5days/week?
If it's more than what the govt is offering you, you can opt out of this
JSA thingie and get a little more money by having a real job that should
help you pay for food and leave more than enough time everyday to hunt
for a more rewarding (monetarily and mentally) job.
--
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/* flabreque */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/* @ */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/* gmail.com */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }
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On 17/09/2012 07:14 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>> Essentially it seems that in order to claim JSA, you have to be working
>> 5 hours per day trying to get hired. So if you work it out, 5 hours per
>> essentially, I am now in full-time employment by the UK government, for
>> about half the legal minimum wage. Isn't that fantastic? :-/
>
> Just for giggles, how much would a job bagging groceries or delivering
> pizzas, or selling nails at the harwdware store pay for 5hrs/day,
> 5days/week?
> If it's more than what the govt is offering you, you can opt out of this
> JSA thingie and get a little more money by having a real job that should
> help you pay for food and leave more than enough time everyday to hunt
> for a more rewarding (monetarily and mentally) job.
I doubt that's going to work. You apply for some menial job like that
with a diploma and an honours degree, it doesn't take a genius to figure
out that you won't be staying very long... Most employers probably
wouldn't like that.
But hey, I mean, we'll see how it goes...
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On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:57:27 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> I doubt that's going to work. You apply for some menial job like that
> with a diploma and an honours degree, it doesn't take a genius to figure
> out that you won't be staying very long... Most employers probably
> wouldn't like that.
Some employers are only looking for temporary help.
Worst that can happen is they say 'no'.
Jim
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On 17/09/2012 10:12 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:57:27 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>
>> I doubt that's going to work. You apply for some menial job like that
>> with a diploma and an honours degree, it doesn't take a genius to figure
>> out that you won't be staying very long... Most employers probably
>> wouldn't like that.
>
> Some employers are only looking for temporary help.
>
> Worst that can happen is they say 'no'.
>
I don’t think that taking a menial job is a good idea. For a start it
would limit your time looking for a suitable job. It would not do your
self esteem any good either. You are not hurting for money ATM and you
don’t have the pressure of a mortgage or supporting a wife and kids. So
make looking for a suitable job your job. As Jim mentioned consider
contracting. It would bring in some money and stop your CV having a gap.
My tuppence ha’ penny’s worth.
--
Regards
Stephen
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Woah, I earned 110 rep on Stack Overflow yesterday. Pity I can't put
/that/ on my CV. :-P
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> Woah, I earned 110 rep on Stack Overflow yesterday. Pity I can't put
> /that/ on my CV. :-P
[Dad mode]
That's what you call looking for work?
[/Dad mode]
--
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/* flabreque */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/* @ */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/* gmail.com */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }
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