Recession

This past week has seen a lot of attention given to the plight of those who, like me, are already out of work as (in the words of the media) the recession starts to bite. I spent some time reading the stuff on the BBC web site, and quite frankly I am appalled at the ignorance displayed in the comments I’ve read….

I’ve been made redundant twice this year, being on the dole the first time ever in my life in February after the company I worked for went bust after 30 years trading. Four months in work and I’m redundant again – this time it has lasted for over 3 months and there’s currently not a lot of hope for employment in the near future. In order to find work I’ve posted my CV on all the internet job sites I’ve found, registered with every Recruitment Agency that has advertised a job that I could potentially hold down and then I read comments posted like:-

“Is it any wonder the rate is going up when it pays to sit on your backside?” by Simon, Stockport, England

“Scrap benefits and they will all do their best to find work instead of sitting on their backsides and sheet.” by G E Best, United Kingdom

“Limit the time you can be on JSA! Simple! “ by Ben

“Its not worth a lot of peoples time working, if they can only earn minimum wage, simply due to the stupid amount of benefits, discounts, and deductions that they get for not working at all!” by Chris Bloggs, Salford, UK, United Kingdom

Firstly, JSA is only paid out for 6 months, so Ben, you request has been granted. JSA is paid every 2 weeks at the rate of £60.50 per week, really generous, try living on that and nothing else, because that's all some people have. We are lucky to have some savings and Sue's job to keep us going (for now). As for scrapping benefits – because of my wife’s salary we don’t qualify for benefits, so why bother scrapping them? And if I was to go out and work for minimum wage, how do I cover my outgoings which are geared to an income 3 times my wife’s earnings, which in themselves are 3 times minimum wage?

On the assumption that these are genuine comments being posted by real people, all they do is prove is the level of ignorance of the general populace of the UK, and that they have no idea of the realities of being unemployed. And THAT is increasingly going to be the obstacle to the UK getting through and out of this recession, made all the worse by one Mr G Brown Esq. burying his head in the sand and denying the situation until the situation was too bad to be ignored.