By Maeve McGoldrick
Today the Prime Mister revealed plans to pay employers £2,500 for every long-term unemployed person they agree to take on. Employers will agree to provide training for a person on Jobseekers allowance for over six months.
From Lord Mandleson’s speech at the Job Summit:
“We do know broadly what we will need to be good at, and that is being smarter and more innovative and creative and more flexible and adaptive and confident and entrepreneurial than the competition. Because that is where more and better jobs will come from.”
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has also announced 75,000 new training places for the long term unemployed to develop their skills so that they become more employable when the job market picks up.
The Skills Secretary John Denham said:
“We will not make the mistakes of the past and just leave people abandoned on the dole, or push them onto sickness benefit. We will do everything we can to help people through this tough time and help them prepare for the economic upturn when it comes.”
James Purnell said “Our message is simple, the longer a person is out of work the harder we will work for them.”
This is a change to the rhetoric of the recent DWP White Paper in that the long term unemployed are to be forced to do menial work in order to receive their benefits. The idea being that people will develop a better work mentality and it will prepare them for employment. One of our main objections to this, apart from the fact that people will effectively be paid below the minimum age, was that this kind of measure reinforces a negative attitude of people living in poverty and on benefits. Being made to do community work in return for benefits can destroy personal aspiration and self confidence. It does not offer any control and will only leave people disheartened about work and frustrated with the system.
However the rising unemployment levels and the economic down turn have prompted government to really take a good look at welfare and employment. The link between substantial training, holistic support and business development is being made in the policies put forward today to help people through the difficult times of the recession. They also give people more control in how they retrain for work and what route into employment they take, one option being supported is self-employment.
It is evident that today’s announcement is an attempt not to repeat past mistakes; parking the recently unemployed on benefits and creating another generation of people reliant on benefits. Some are cynical of governments actions claiming that it will have ‘limited action’ and question where the money will come from. Media headlines are full of criticism about the long term unemployed and the cost to society. It is in times of crisis that the hardest to reach are often put aside as they are considered the most difficult to help. Today’s announcement is a welcome, small step in the right direction, investing time and money in supporting people into long term sustainable employment will not only help to eradicate poverty but can be an effective way to deal with the effects of the current economic climate.
