Work for benefits.
Posted: 18 Feb 2015, 12:14Will the stick and stick method work or is the carrot and stick method better?
The Tories and Labour both want those in the 18-21 age group who are not in employment, education or training, (Neets) to either work in the community or get an apprenticeship and a proper job otherwise their benefits stop or get reduced.
The Tory plan is to get them to work in the community cleaning up litter, graffiti, working for local charities or making meals for the elderly and infirm. They would do 30 hours of this plus 10 hours job search.
Labour has pledged a compulsory jobs guarantee for the young unemployed, paid for by a tax on bankers' bonuses and .by guaranteeing a six-month job for unemployed youngsters, who would be "properly paid.
In both cases benefits payments would stop after six months if the claimants failed to meet the conditions.
There is no doubt that something has to be done to get these young people into the habit of working, but both of these pledges or promises are pretty much flawed.
The Tory plan assumes that all Neets are thick and can only do the most menial of tasks, tasks already being carried out by employed people or volunteers, What will happen to them, will they be forced to go on benefits? Labour thinks that there is such a thing as a short term meaningful apprenticeship leading to a proper job with proper pay. What jobs will these so called "apprenticeships" allow people to do? And where are those jobs?
If the work is not there, it is not there. Job creation, of meaningful jobs. should be the priority not kicking the unemployed in the teeth when there are no jobs available.
The Tories and Labour both want those in the 18-21 age group who are not in employment, education or training, (Neets) to either work in the community or get an apprenticeship and a proper job otherwise their benefits stop or get reduced.
The Tory plan is to get them to work in the community cleaning up litter, graffiti, working for local charities or making meals for the elderly and infirm. They would do 30 hours of this plus 10 hours job search.
Labour has pledged a compulsory jobs guarantee for the young unemployed, paid for by a tax on bankers' bonuses and .by guaranteeing a six-month job for unemployed youngsters, who would be "properly paid.
In both cases benefits payments would stop after six months if the claimants failed to meet the conditions.
There is no doubt that something has to be done to get these young people into the habit of working, but both of these pledges or promises are pretty much flawed.
The Tory plan assumes that all Neets are thick and can only do the most menial of tasks, tasks already being carried out by employed people or volunteers, What will happen to them, will they be forced to go on benefits? Labour thinks that there is such a thing as a short term meaningful apprenticeship leading to a proper job with proper pay. What jobs will these so called "apprenticeships" allow people to do? And where are those jobs?
If the work is not there, it is not there. Job creation, of meaningful jobs. should be the priority not kicking the unemployed in the teeth when there are no jobs available.