The politics of unemployment
This is not a diary-type blog
As I explain in a separate blog titled Blog setup, my Blogger blogs are really a series of websites within the blog framework. As such, I update pages with new information as I would if they were set up as part of a standard website, so the information is more up to date than the page dates suggest. When I need to insert lots of new pages, it requires a major reorganization, as I did to this blog in October 2008 and again, less dramatically, in August 2009.
Although you can navigate this blog in any way you choose, there is a lot of cross-linking between pages, as well as a multitude of links to external websites and blogs, so I recommend that on the first time through, you read it like a book, ignoring all the links except the Next page links until you reach the end (thus ensuring that you don't miss anything), then (if you wish) start again and explore whichever un-visited links interest you.
Why I set up this blog
My primary motivation in setting up this blog in January 2008 was to highlight the folly that is the New Deal scheme, but I also covered other issues such as housing and finance. Different and apparently unrelated policies of local councils, banks and the government can combine in the most pernicious way to make life much harder for people on low incomes, including those with jobs as well as unemployed people, than need be the case. Frank Field's proposal to scrap New Deal is well meaning but, based on that article, even he doesn't really understand the full extent of the problem. Only those who have actually suffered truly understand.
July 2008 proposals
The new proposals that the government outlined in July 2008 designed to replace New Deal generated a lot of debate, which caused me to re-assess this blog. I decided that it was necessary to cover a lot of issues that I'd previously not included, culminating in my October 2008 blog reorganization. Also in October 2008, I created a separate blog titled The nineties job quest that focuses exclusively on my first long period of unemployment, removing all the detailed information about that period from within this blog and my related Career blog while inserting links to them from this blog.
How I got into this mess
The nineties job quest lasted from February 1990 to June 1998. I lived off my former wealth for most of that period, only signing on for jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit when I was heavily in debt (no scrounging there) in May 1996. Note also that the mere fact that I actually found work again after that length of time shows how hard I was trying.
I became redundant again in December 2002, having learned no major new skills that would have made it easy to get another job, so I was into my second long period of unemployment, which has been a very different experience from The nineties job quest. Although it will take until the end of April 2011 to equal that quest in terms of duration, this period has been just as eventful, perhaps more so. I haven't moved to a different home (though I had an eviction order served on me, later retracted), but I have been through a Bankruptcy and had problems with Housing benefits and government policies (especially New Deal) that are supposed to help unemployed people back to work but which in practice have severely hampered my efforts in that direction.
My career and certificates
My related Career blog, which covers the time that I spent working in great detail, looks at possible options for an alternative career and explains why some are completely unsuitable for me and why it is too late at my age (I was born in 1951) to consider some careers that I might be suited to. My Certificates blog contains pictures of my GCE, CSE and other certificates for any employer who may require proof that I really did pass those exams.
Taking responsibility
When it suits their case, politicians like to say that people should take responsibility for their own actions. As I make clear in the remainder of this blog, I am frequently prevented from doing things that will give me the best chance of finding work by being forced to do things that won't help me. This effectively transfers responsibility to the government, since I am limited in my ability to decide my own actions and the agencies that I deal with are doing what the government tells them. Any attempt to tell people in authority that their policies are wrong only serves to reinforce their suspicions that unemployed people are no good.
The obstacle course
Now, it may be that I'm not a typical unemployed person and that these policies work for some people. They may even work for a lot of people, as the government claims, but they definitely work against me. Even if they work for a lot of people (and let's see the evidence), it is necessary to allow some flexibility in the system to ensure that all unemployed people have the best possible chance of getting back to work, including myself. The 2008 banking crisis may presage greater flexibility, as many more graduates, office workers and managers join the ranks of the unemployed, but it will probably be too little and too late to make any difference to my situation. I'll never give up, but my prospects are bleak.
Sometimes, I sense that people think that as I'm out of work, I am obviously clueless and shouldn't argue with them when they tell me what to do. They don't know about my past and don't allow me time to explain, although even if they gave me the time, they probably wouldn't understand anyway.
I wanted to build on the experience gained from successfully returning to work at the end of The nineties job quest, but I was never able to carry out my plans. I wish that I could have had some genuine help in identifying a new career, but in the absence of such help, I wish that I could have just been left to do things my way.
A question of confidence
Even in my bleakest moments during The nineties job quest, I always felt that I was going to get back to work again. Although it fluctuated, my confidence generally increased as time went on. As 1998 began, I just knew that it was going to be my year because the momentum seemed unstoppable.
This time around, I still felt confident up to the summer of 2005. After that, political interference accelerated and my confidence gradually ebbed away. A curious paradox of the policies espoused by both the Conservatives and Labour parties is that these policies serve only to undermine the confidence of people like myself, who genuinely want to work, yet politicians are always quick to proclaim that self-confidence is an essential requirement for getting back to work after being unemployed for any length of time.
While I won't give up looking for work, I don't feel confident about finding a job by conventional methods. That's another reason for expending so much effort on this blog. My Amazon reviews once aroused the interest of the News media, although journalists' preconceptions about unemployed people mean that they are not interested in my experiences of being out of work; that was evident in the way that most of them treated me before. Nevertheless, maybe I can somehow arouse the interest of employers or, if not, raise awareness of the issues in other ways.
What are we?
Organised religion calls us sinners. Employers call us human resources. (Just occasionally, I still see the word personnel, which was once standard but is now extremely rare.) Government calls us taxpayers. Business calls us consumers. We are therefore of value in this life only to the degree that we grovel, work, pay taxes and buy stuff.
An emotive subject
If you doubt the strength of public hostility towards benefit scroungers, just do a Google search for benefit scrounger. The McFadden family case and others like it fuel public hostility, but the vast majority of unemployed people are hostile to the McFadden family too. Typical of the attitude by those who don't understand the issues is this comment that I found on Indymedia UK.
There is an easy solution to your dilemna, stop accepting the benefits and you will be free to do what you like. I, too, am trapped here for 40 - 48 hours a week. I can't do what I want. I have to wear clothes to fit in, but at the end of the day I get paid so I put up with it. And what's more, 40% of what I earn is paid to you.
Let's see how that critic manages if he ends up on the unemployment scrapheap. Given that he is currently on a high rate of income tax, he would find it tougher than most of us.
Look at this survey of the UK's top 100 most annoying things. I console myself with the knowledge, confirmed by the BBC debate Should benefits be linked to community service? (often mentioned in this blog but sadly no longer available online), that most people who despise benefit scroungers don't know enough about the subject to form a balanced opinion. Even more interesting is the contrast with a more recent poll. I guess this proves that it all depends on timing. Whetever irritation is in the news tops the poll.
Just a delusion
I suspect that the public and politicians alike start from the point of view that if people are not doing anything to earn their benefits, they might as well be doing something. Some workers appear to be jealous of the unemployed, but if they had to live off benefits, they would realise that it's not a life of luxury, though my Amazon reviews make it appear that I have a better lifestyle than I actually do. The idea that unemployed people don't do anything useful with their time (based on the visibility of those who hang around street corners) make the idea of forcing unemployed people to do something seem appealing to those who have always found employment, though my Amazon reviews and my other internet activities show that I, at least, have found ways to make use of whatever spare time I have available.
Unfortunately, the public and politicians don't appreciate the cost of administration of schemes to make unemployed people do something to earn their benefits. Furthermore, the extra administrators employed are rarely drawn from the ranks of the unemployed.
Why me?
So why have I been out of work for so long despite actively seeking work? Apart from prejudice against unemployed people based on the usual Stereotypes, as well as ageism in my own case, the short answer is that I need re-training, whether that be for a different career or to obtain some computer programming skills relevant to the current marketplace. Government policies do not help me. Indeed, some of their policies including New Deal actually make life more difficult for me. I am told that having been out of work since December 2002, there's been plenty of time outside of New Deal when I could have got re-trained. Well, I have had some re-training, but nothing like as much as I would have liked due to various factors that I'll explain in detail later. At my age, any re-training I now do is unlikely to make much difference. It's really quite a long story and that's why this blog is so necessary.
Most people find work quickly
The reality is that most people who are made redundant manage to find work again quickly, as I did on the first two occasions that I suffered that fate in 1981 and 1988 (and in the second case, I didn't even bother signing on for jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit), but those that don't find work quickly find it extremely hard however much they want it. With the help of acute staff shortages caused by Y2K, I performed a miracle once before as The nineties job quest illustrates, but things are very different for me now.
With jobs now disappearing almost as fast as Lord Lucan disappeared following the murder of Sandra Rivett, even those who have become unemployed recently are finding things tough. My chances seem to be more remote than ever, although I came close to securing a part-time job in July 2009.
I offer possible solutions
Sometimes, I offer possible solutions to the problems I highlight. I know that no government is likely to go back to the hands-off approach that prevailed in the last millennium any time soon, though that may happen eventually if politicians realise that intervention isn't cost-effective. They and the bureaucrats don't always know what's best for individuals. Punish the lazy people if you must, but please offer constructive help to those who want to return to work while allowing them to choose their own way forward within reason.
I don't claim to have all the answers, but through my experience of two long periods out of work, I have seen a lot of things and I hope that either the News media or the politicians will take my ideas and opinions seriously. Even if it's too late for me (and I hope it isn't), lessons learned may help other people. In particular, I think that politicians should look closely at Employer attitudes. Without overcoming their reluctance to take on long-term unemployed people, it's difficult for such people to find a way back to work.
