We can see clearly the confusion in the government's thinking over the unemployed, particularly over Mandatory Work Activity. On the one hand, it is supposed to help people back into the discipline of work and give them experience useful in securing a job. On the other hand, it is ensuring that people don't get benefits without having to work for them. Is this work experience or community service?
The piece also highlights the inevitability of employer exploitation. With a pool of free labour to draw on, some employers who want only unskilled labour will happily cut their wage bill even further.
The whole rotten system of it stinks.
ReplyDeleteAt best these schemes seem to consist of shepherding people into unstuiable ill equipped facilities so the provider can say they've attended and trouser a few quid. I can do job searches on my computer at home with all the relevant pages bookmarked. Why would I need to go somewhere else just to deprive the taxpayer?
At worst it's indentured servitude. But of course they will class it not as work but as training or work experience.