Unemployment Mandatory work scheme does not improve job chances

RomanNose

RomanNose

RomanNose

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Thousands of jobseekers have been referred to a mandatory work scheme that has done nothing for their employment chances, has made them more likely to claim benefits in the long run, and may have had adverse consequences on their physical and mental health, government research has found.

Published late on Tuesday evening, the Department for Work and Pensions' own assessment of its mandatory work activity (MWA) programme was filed at the House of Commons library just three hours after the employment minister, Chris Grayling, announced that he would be pumping in millions of pounds of extra funding to expand the scheme so it could take up to 70,000 referrals a year.

The government also announced that it would toughen up the sanctions regime making it even harder for those to temporarily sign off benefits to avoid being forced into unpaid work for up to four weeks.

The government's peer-reviewed study concluded that being referred by Jobcentre managers to mandatory unpaid work for 30 hours a week was good at pushing people off jobseeker's allowance in the short term.

However, over a five-month period people were more likely to return to all sorts of out-of-work benefits when compared with those who had never been referred in the first place.
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Continued..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/13/mandatory-work-scheme-government-research
So why are the government expanding it if it does benefit anyone apart from the companies? That's what I want to know as this research shows it actually makes things worse.
 
We should just put those people down.

Physical and mental consequences of working?

Not many people enjoy working but we all have to do it. MTFU.
 
shoes said:
We should just put those people down.

Physical and mental consequences of working?

Not many people enjoy working but we all have to do it. MTFU.
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Difference is they're not being paid for this work. That must be pretty soul destroying.
 
I predict two answers:

1) This is obvious as people on benefits are clearly lazy workshy good for nothings and a taste of work will send them scurrying back to benefits sharpish.

2) This is obvious as people on benefits are there for a genuine reason and/or are virtually unemployable so a mandatory work program will have no benefit for these people.

I see the benefit of the idea in principle but I think it is being implemented horrendously, massively expanding the apprenticeship programs seems a far more appropriate way of doing it as the people involved actually get something out of it rather than being a woefully under-paid dogsbody in the company.
 
SlyReaper said:
Difference is they're not being paid for this work. That must be pretty soul destroying.
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it was a nightmare getting travel expenses back when i did what was essentially the same thing around 12 or so years ago.
i was forking out 1/3 of my JSA on busfares.... i had no money or time to try and find a proper job
 
What makes me laugh is that while you are doing a months 'unpaid' full time work you are still expected to keep to your commitments as outlined in your job seekers agreement which is usually contact job center multiple times a week, papers multiple times a week, ring employers speculatively multiple times a week.
shoes said:
Get a job then, init bruvaaaahhhhhh
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I hope you never become unemployed and have some asshat like you say it back to you.
 
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Also worth mentioning: unemployment is a trap. If you spend a certain amount of time out of work, you'll have a hell of a time getting anyone to employ you. By my understanding, the whole point of this scheme is to help people break out of that trap, but it's not working.
 
Eeeeeethan said:
What makes me laugh is that while you are doing a months 'unpaid' full time work you are still expected to keep to your commitments as outlined in your job seekers agreement which is usually contact job center multiple times a week, papers multiple times a week, ring employers speculatively multiple times a week.

I hope you never become unemployed and have some asshat like you say it back to you.
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Have you been on JSA?! Unless it's significantly different where you are it is in fact two things every two weeks, and those two things can be "looked in a paper for jobs" or "walked into shop and asked if there was a job"... After going on it for a bit I realised why so many people couldn't find jobs if that is all they were doing!

Isn't it a bit soon to be stating whether it works or not? I'm also I trigued by the idea they are less employable, why?

On the other hand a lot of the companies who provide the "experience" are almost certainly taking the ****...
 
Amp34 said:
Have you been on JSA?! Unless it's significantly different where you are it is in fact two things every two weeks, and those two things can be "looked in a paper for jobs" or "walked into shop and asked if there was a job"... After going on it for a bit I realised why so many people couldn't find jobs if that is all they were doing!

Isn't it a bit soon to be stating whether it works or not? I'm also I trigued by the idea they are less employable, why?

On the other hand a lot of the companies who provide the "experience" are almost certainly taking the ****...
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Yes I have been on JSA, I still have my old Job Seekers Agreement, it was a hell of a lot more than 2 things a fortnight, it was 6 things a week which had to include 2x visits to Job Centre, 2 Spec letters + CVs and 2 looking at job sections in newspapers.
 
SlyReaper said:
Also worth mentioning: unemployment is a trap. If you spend a certain amount of time out of work, you'll have a hell of a time getting anyone to employ you. By my understanding, the whole point of this scheme is to help people break out of that trap, but it's not working.
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I agree. I have employment gaps in my CV and now fill them by saying I was actively looking for work or doing college course during this period.

Recently in interview for accounts assistant position I was asked if I am currently working.I had no choice but to say I am doing AAT course at the moment.

With the way things are, I wouldn't be surprised if many peopel had employment gaps in their cv. The problem is employers don't look kindly on this issue and conclude that potential candidate skills may have gone rusty by now. This isn't always true though.
 
SlyReaper said:
Also worth mentioning: unemployment is a trap. If you spend a certain amount of time out of work, you'll have a hell of a time getting anyone to employ you. By my understanding, the whole point of this scheme is to help people break out of that trap, but it's not working.
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It's also making places less likely to hire staff... why bother when they can get 10 people payment free from the government?

Wasn't this an issue around the jubilee too?

Yes it was:
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/06/jubilee-stewards-tomorrows-people-debbie-scott/

Not sure how biased that is but I can't remember where I originally read it.

Personally I think it's an utter **** take, the argument is it provides job skills
and experience...
 
I've been on JSA, they never check what you've applied for. You can write down any old **** to make it appear you are sticking to the agreement.
 
Morgoth said:
I've been on JSA, they never check what you've applied for. You can write down any old **** to make it appear you are sticking to the agreement.
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They did for me, I had to account for everything I did, I nearly lost my benefits once when the Job Centre rung the company I applied for to check if I had sent my CV and they said I hadn't sent it, they had probably lost it and claimed they didnt receive it, luckily I had proof of postage or I would have had a 3 month sanction on my benefits, IE no money, and still would have had to attend the job centre for signing, look and apply for jobs etc..
 
It's a joke. Companies are getting free labour. It will bet like the old YTS schemes. Companies will abuse this to their own benefit.

As for saying these people are workshy and should get a job there are about 2.7 million unemployed in the UK. Yes some of those will be work shy but that vast majority are people who want to work but can't find work. There are simply not enough jobs available.

Plus financial experts are saying when the Euro collapses expect our unemployment to easily hit 4 million. So the smug people should not be so mug as you may well soon become one of the unemployed. Did anybody see one of the main Italian banks the BNI had an unexpected holiday the other day? Customers of the bank suddenly found they were unable to withdraw money from the bank or cash machine or pay bills. Some are saying this bank holiday is going to last until 1st July. Now to me this unexpected bank holiday in Italy is massive news. Strangely the unbiased, upright and honest mainstream media have not covered it.

http://sgtreport.com/2012/06/italian-bni-bank-declares-bank-holiday-until-july-1st-people-in-panic
http://the2012scenario.com/2012/06/more-on-closure-of-bni-italy
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0612/breaking24.html
http://news.yahoo.com/eu-movement-m...2--finance.html;_ylt=A2KLOzIJWtdP4yMA3VHQtDMD


We are living in very perilous times. As Gerald Celente says to predict the future you simply look at what happened in the past. Lets look at at our history before the second world war.

First there was financial depression, then currency wars started, then trade wars started and then the 2nd world war started. The second world war was what ended the recession in America. The basically manufactured their way out of recession. Before the 2nd world war started the American government had tried all sorts of fiscal policies to end the recession none of them worked.


So now lets look at 2012. We are in a global financial depression, (it's not a recession or double dip recession), currency wars have started, trade wars have started. The next step is using weapons on each other. We are already in the 3rd world war. We just haven't started shooting and bombing each other yet but we will.
 
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as i see it, there is a job for everyone, they just havent found it yet, or achieved the training needed for that job.

or they simply are too precious about that job they will do

i am a 43 year old male originaly from glasgow, now in london.

over the years i have never 'signed on' or been part of any work scheme.

at 16 i went out looking for a job at the start of a recession, with 2 'O' levels, it took me 14 weeks to find a job sweeping a yard/picking up ****, at a welding firm. since then i have done many, and any job i could find, including,

shoveling ****
cleaning toilets
hard labouring (building site)
removals
retail
call centre ****
street trader (sunglasses and umbrellas) (cant lose ehh?)
runner for TV company
sound engineer (main career)
fixed computers
volunteering
security
bar work
nightclubs (gay at that, and im straight)

and the list goes on,

for those that have no handicap or disadvantage, there is work there, they just need to go and get it, instead of watching thier moms and pops on Jeremy kyle.

and they should hit the pavement/internet every day looking for it.

/end rant :)
 
RomanNose said:
So why are the government expanding it if it does benefit anyone apart from the companies? That's what I want to know as this research shows it actually makes things worse.
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1) Politics
2) Ideology
3) Helping friends in private industry.
4) Politics
 
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