No truly unskilled jobs
All jobs require SOME ability
There is an assumption that unemployed people can take whatever low-grade manual jobs are available. In fact, a close look at any of these jobs show that all of them, however low-grade they are perceived to be, require some kind of ability, even if it is only physical strength and stamina.
Warehouse operatives in real jobs often have to know at least some basic computer stuff (so that they can record stock movements), unlike unemployed people on New Deal placements, who aren't usually expected to touch the computers. Industrial cleaning jobs sometimes involve the use of hazardous chemicals that need careful handling, as do some warehouse jobs. Meanwhile, former office workers don't necessarily have the raw physical strength to do some of the physical labouring tasks. Mending fences, repairing roads and gardening are among other suggestions put forward as unskilled jobs that anybody could do.
You only learn that these jobs are skilled when you see how badly some people do them, and that's before you take into account that some people may not be interested in doing them and will therefore fail to do them to the best of their limited ability.
DIY disasters
We've all heard stories about people doing things themselves that they think are simple (painting, decorating, repairing, assembling furniture, gardening) but which they find aren't. And that's just for their own domestic purposes. Think of these disasters transferred to an industrial environment. I humorously described my own experience of Assembling furniture from kits (badly). More seriously, some people think that all they need is a teach-yourself book such as Collins complete DIY manual and it's then only a case of buying the tools and materials, following the instructions and everything will be just fine. Unfortunately, some people don't have the skills to carry out the instructions correctly, while others don't follow the instructions, either because the author didn't explain things clearly, or because the user can't read them properly, or maybe because they think they know better.
But still the image persists that some jobs can be done by anybody. Employers know differently, perhaps from bitter experience. So it's not as simple as walking into a jobcentre or recruitment agency, saying you want a job and being given one, especially for the long-term unemployed. If only it were that easy.
Could I stack shelves?
People have suggested that I could stack shelves. I could in theory but a lot of other people could stack them much faster than I could (because they are physically stronger than me), so no employer is likely to offer me such a job, and therein lies the problem. We all stack shelves at some time or other, even if it is only at home, but stacking shelves in a professional capacity is hard physical work if it is a major part of the job. Of course, if a job involves stacking shelves sometimes as a small part of a multi-task job, that's an entirely different matter providing that the employee can do the other parts of the job to a satisfactory standard. In those circumstances, any slowness at stacking shelves would not only be less significant but also less noticeable, in much the same way that my relatively slow typing speed (30 words per minute) was irrelevant in a computer programming job. There are plenty of other low-grade but essential manual jobs that need doing but many of them also require physical attributes or other skills that I don't possess.
My health is good
One person in the jobcentre suggested that if I'm not disabled, I should be able to do manual work. Well, I'm not disabled and I'm proud of my medical record as an adult, especially given how poor it was as a child. I've only visited a doctor once since 1970 and that was in 1986 when I was working away from home in Spennymoor and caught a nasty cold. I wouldn't have bothered with a doctor but the landlady insisted that I see one. Nevertheless, being in good physical health does not automatically mean that one has plenty of physical strength any more that it implies one has intelligence. At school, I was near the top of the class in most academic subjects, but near the bottom at physical activities. As an adult, I have maintained some level of fitness by walking where others would drive, but this isn't the same as hard physical work.
Whatever ability one has, poor health normally affects the capacity to think as well as the capacity to do physical things. Of course, if I were to be employed in a job to which I'm unsuited, I would run a higher risk of physical injury than those who are suited to such work.
Gym training?
If the politicians really think that unemployed people should do manual work, perhaps they should offer free gym training to ex-office workers to build up their strength. Would it be possible to use school gymnasiums outside normal school hours for such purposes?
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