Anyone see this panorama programme last night? Basically the reporter took 4 unemployed yoofs - 2 chavs, 2 normal kids and gave them a kick up the backside to try and get them a job. What I liked about it was the fact that it quickly got over the fact that teenagers are awkward, spotty and like to stay in bed a lot, and then took a serious look at the bottom end labour market. Quite an eye opener for me.
One thing I didn't realise is that while these young people are on job seekers allowance, its not always their fault. One of the chavs got a job working at the Honda factory in Swindon - we obviously don't know what he was like when he was there but we do know that he was on time every day and he was enjoying it, only to be told on the fifth day that they didn't need him anymore. He was working via an agency so this was all above board apparently, so straight away he's back on benefits. I don't think he was a bad worker or anything as at the end of the programme they said that he was still working the odd day here and there at Honda, still through the agency.
One of the normal kids ended up in the same boat, doing a few days agency shifts at BMW every now and then, while the other one got himself a job working at a cafe in a shopping centre. The other chav didn't get a job in the end, his nan didn't want him working in food retail as it was poorly paid hard work often with franchise managers who didn't give a damn about their employees (a bad attitude, but I can't help feeling she had a point).
In the end, it did change my opinion a bit of all these young unemployed people. I did feel pretty sorry for them that the only jobs that seemed to be available to them were the crap service industry jobs at food courts, or "flexible labour" agency jobs, and that wages are depressed to the minimum thanks to immigration. I can understand that employers want flexible labour (and don't want to employ someone whose no good and then be unable to sack them), but from the kids point of view, it must be pretty disheartening turning up to work one day only to be told to go home - no wonder so many of them give up and just opt to stay on benefits. Where are all the apprenticeships? the YTS schemes?
One thing I didn't realise is that while these young people are on job seekers allowance, its not always their fault. One of the chavs got a job working at the Honda factory in Swindon - we obviously don't know what he was like when he was there but we do know that he was on time every day and he was enjoying it, only to be told on the fifth day that they didn't need him anymore. He was working via an agency so this was all above board apparently, so straight away he's back on benefits. I don't think he was a bad worker or anything as at the end of the programme they said that he was still working the odd day here and there at Honda, still through the agency.
One of the normal kids ended up in the same boat, doing a few days agency shifts at BMW every now and then, while the other one got himself a job working at a cafe in a shopping centre. The other chav didn't get a job in the end, his nan didn't want him working in food retail as it was poorly paid hard work often with franchise managers who didn't give a damn about their employees (a bad attitude, but I can't help feeling she had a point).
In the end, it did change my opinion a bit of all these young unemployed people. I did feel pretty sorry for them that the only jobs that seemed to be available to them were the crap service industry jobs at food courts, or "flexible labour" agency jobs, and that wages are depressed to the minimum thanks to immigration. I can understand that employers want flexible labour (and don't want to employ someone whose no good and then be unable to sack them), but from the kids point of view, it must be pretty disheartening turning up to work one day only to be told to go home - no wonder so many of them give up and just opt to stay on benefits. Where are all the apprenticeships? the YTS schemes?
