Roger Godsiff MP condemns lack of support available for ambitious jobseekers
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 15:11, Mon 28 October 2013:
Roger has written to Esther McVey MP, the Minister of State for Employment, to criticise the lack of support available for his constituents who are young, often well-qualified, and desperate to work and make a contribution to society. Roger was recently contacted by a highly-qualified law graduate who was told to get a job in retail by her local jobcentre. He said: “What is the point of encouraging bright, ambitious young people from poor backgrounds to rack up enormous debts by attending university, if we then tell them to abandon all hope and get a job in retail after they finish studying?” Roger’s constituents, who include Cait Reilly, the University of Birmingham geology graduate who was forced to work for free at a Poundland store, desperately want to work and are happy to do unpaid work if it will help their career. Despite Government rhetoric about the luxury of a life on benefits, young people in Birmingham Hall Green who receive JSA struggle to afford smart clothes to wear to interviews, and some cannot afford to purchase a computer to help with their job search. Roger says: “Rather than being ‘shirkers’, my constituents and many others on JSA are strivers whose efforts are going unrewarded because of the structural lack of demand in the job market, which the Government seem to be doing little to address. It’s a lot easier to get somebody off the books and give the unemployment statistics a rosy glow if you unilaterally withdraw support from those areas of employment where people have genuinely invested time and commitment to build a career, isn’t it? Why will the Government not bring in schemes to support young, ambitious people into work rather than allowing their talents, and the contribution they could make to the UK, to be wasted?”
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Posted by Colin, 15:30, Mon 28 October 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
Roger Godsiff ignores the fact that the two million immigrants allowed in under Labour's open-door policy, almost matches exactly the current unemployment level. More than 1.2 million jobs have been created in the private sector under the Coalition, so talk of the Government failing to address a 'structural lack of demand in the jobs market' is rubbish. Labour bankrupted our country with its reckless borrowing, spending & waste, so it is quite outrageous for them to be carping from the sidelines in this way. They had their chance, for 13 long, miserable years. They blew it; never forget the smirking Liam Byrne's note at the Treasury - 'Sorry, there's no money left!'.
Posted by Dr AC Felix Burden, 18:04, Mon 28 October 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
Gosh, Colin, the last time I looked it was the banking industry together with the financial industry that bankrupted our nation and many others. Labour was guilty in the past for not regulating this industry with enough fervour. However, if they had many would have said they were being socialists. Roger, you are correct that many people cannot find work, and that the present government has done little to help them.
Posted by Colin, 08:19, Tue 29 October 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
It wasn't the banking or financial industries that borrowed more, in 13 disastrous years, than all of the previous British Governments in history, combined, it was Labour. Blaming the banks is a bit like a roulette loser blaming the casino for letting him play.