The Student Room Group

How can people be unemployed?

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Original post by Silver Arrows
So is it not better to take the **** job in the meantime instead of waiting for something to present itself to you?


True however one of the complaints was the cost of the commute-if it costs you as much to get there and back as it does to get paid is it really worth it?
Reply 21
Original post by OU Student
Thank you. I also find it difficult to believe that many of the 2.5 million (or whatever it is now) aren't trying hard enough to find a job.



There were 2.21 million unemployed people for January to March 2014,


There were 628,000 job vacancies for February to April 2014.
source ONS.

That means there is a 3.5 people after 1 Job.

For January to March 2014, 126,000 people had become redundant

True, there needs to be more jobs, however, trends show there are more jobs been created then people are being made redundant.

Seen as you like your fact, I'm sure we can ascertain that if people actually didn't give up at the first hurdle and actively looked for work they could find employment within 6 weeks.

I'm clearly stating people lack motivation and then blame others.
Original post by Silver Arrows
So is it not better to take the **** job in the meantime instead of waiting for something to present itself to you?


Depends entirely on the **** job.
Reply 23
Anecdotally I worked as a cleaner in a hotel. It was a bad job, not particularly nice work and low pay, but they were constantly looking for new staff. Why? Because people didn't turn up for work or they quit. Some people don't like hard work.
Reply 24
What I hate about looking for work is when you get people that are desperate for work applying for jobs they may not usually go for limiting my own chances :P

For example I was going for entry level positons in office/banking/accounting and went for an interview for an Accounts assistant position, really bottom level stuff photocopying, data entry etc and the interviewer said someone had an interview earlier who had a degree in accounting.

I was like wtf the pay was only like £12,000 or less iirc why go through 2 years of A levels and 3-4 years on Uni to apply for a job that has borderline 0 experience or grade requirements :angry:, I think the job specification even asked if the applicant minded getting cakes for staff from the local bakery lol.

Supply and demand and such, just have to keep knocking out those applications :frown:
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by AMG44

True, there needs to be more jobs, however, trends show there are more jobs been created then people are being made redundant.


The problem is not all jobs are created equal. Look out there on job boards and you will see a **** load of temporary work (I mean really short-term), ADHOC contracts, zero hour contracts, apprenticeships and ****ty part-time contracts for like 4-10 hours per week.

And by apprenticeships, I mean "apprenticeships." It's always about the money. If someone can pay you less, they will. People are wise to it and that's why these vacancies don't necessarily get occupied, and why unemployment hasn't decreased all that much.
Original post by Shodann
What I hate about looking for work is when you get people that are desperate for work applying for jobs they may not usually go for limiting my own chances :P

For example I was going for entry level positons in office/banking/accounting and went for an interview for an Accounts assistant position, really bottom level stuff photocopying, data entry etc and the interviewer said someone had an interview earlier who had a degree in accounting.

I was like wtf the pay was only like £12,000 or less iirc why go through 2 years of A levels and 3-4 years on Uni to apply for a job that has borderline 0 experience or grade requirements :angry:, I think the job specification even asked if the applicant minded getting cakes for staff from the local bakery lol.

Supply and demand and such, just have to keep knocking out those applications :frown:


Lol I would be singing if I got offered a job like that.
Personally I'm not looking for a job currently (signed off on disability benefits), so I'm not really involved in the whole system, but if people have their standards and want a decent job, then I say good on them! We live in a first world country, where employees) have certain rights and expectations, so frankly why the **** should someone settle for an unfair contract, or obscenely low pay? You do an honest day's work, you deserve an honest day's pay!
Because the private sector is not creative/imaginative/entrepreneurial enough to think of some useful way they could make money by employing all these currently unemployed people with their remarkably diverse skill set.

That and some people are just so lazy they are simply unemployable.
Reply 29
Original post by AMG44
Just out of sheer boredom, I've been home from University for 1 day and I'm eager to start work. I just don't get how millions of people can sit on their arse all doing nothing to contribute towards society. Then have the nerve to moan they don't get the same opportunities as other.


Maybe they haven't had the same opportunities as you. Maybe they are traumatised by a lifetime of abuse, poverty and mental health issues. Maybe they are disabled.

The vast majority are just down on their luck temporarily.
Reply 30
Original post by AMG44
Just out of sheer boredom, I've been home from University for 1 day and I'm eager to start work. I just don't get how millions of people can sit on their arse all doing nothing to contribute towards society. Then have the nerve to moan they don't get the same opportunities as other.

I'd also like to add that even though you are eager to start work, Chances are at some point in your life you will find yourself unemployed. Only then will you find out the answer to your question. Good luck.
Original post by AMG44
I disagree, people don't try hard enough or are too picky. I used to live with a girl who thought she was too good/proud to take the bins out. it is fair and people will use there isn't any jobs as an excuse.

I live in a small town and have always found work or traveled to work.


You just made a generalisation about the population of Britain and then proceeded to back it up with two anecdotes.
Original post by Huskaris
In 99.9% of cases, if you want a job you will get one, if you genuinely have spent weeks looking for a job and you are "open to anything" you are more likely than not, unemployable.



I object to this. Particularly if you are young and maybe haven't had much work experience, as many people on this forum will be, it is extremely difficult to get even a basic low/unskilled job because there are just so many people applying for them. Being young and inexperienced is not the same thing as being unemployable. I personally spent two or three months job searching and only got three interviews in that whole time, with loads of employers not even bothering to reply or tell me that my application was unsuccessful.

There are also problems with location, living in a rural area with terrible public transport and not yet having a car of my own was an enormous setback in finding a job. Although you tried hard not to generalise in your post (for which I thank you) I think it's still not as easy as you're making out.
Original post by Huskaris
In 99.9% of cases, if you want a job you will get one, if you genuinely have spent weeks looking for a job and you are "open to anything" you are more likely than not, unemployable.

Due to a change in my families circumstances I had to get a job, so I did. It wasn't my dream job, or a job I went to university to go to, but I got one.

Managing expectations is the issue, not the job market.

Cue 100 outraged graduates claiming that they have been unemployed for 50 years despite applying for 300,000 jobs a day, all of which pay over £50,000 in a very specific area. .


You, much like someone else I've replied to, just made a vast generalisation about the state of the economy and then backed it up with a single personal anecdote.
Original post by AMG44
Just out of sheer boredom, I've been home from University for 1 day and I'm eager to start work. I just don't get how millions of people can sit on their arse all doing nothing to contribute towards society. Then have the nerve to moan they don't get the same opportunities as other.


'hur hur they must all be lazy and not want to work then moan about not having equal opportunities'

You literally said the answer to your own question.
they don't have equal opportunities.
You're at uni. What about people the uni didn't accept? What about people who can't afford uni? What about people with disabilities?

The fact you believe everyone who hasn't been given a job is lazy shows just how small your world is.

Also, people don't have to 'contribute to society' to be worthy of basic respect.
Maybe you need to get some hobbies. If one day at home makes you bored then you must not have many things in your life that you're interested in.
Reply 36
The majority of people work for a living, not to contribute to society.
Original post by anosmianAcrimony
You, much like someone else I've replied to, just made a vast generalisation about the state of the economy and then backed it up with a single personal anecdote.



Original post by locksher
I object to this. Particularly if you are young and maybe haven't had much work experience, as many people on this forum will be, it is extremely difficult to get even a basic low/unskilled job because there are just so many people applying for them. Being young and inexperienced is not the same thing as being unemployable. I personally spent two or three months job searching and only got three interviews in that whole time, with loads of employers not even bothering to reply or tell me that my application was unsuccessful.

There are also problems with location, living in a rural area with terrible public transport and not yet having a car of my own was an enormous setback in finding a job. Although you tried hard not to generalise in your post (for which I thank you) I think it's still not as easy as you're making out.


In that case try going through a recruitment agency. They are vultures, scum and genuinely could not care less about you whilst trying to make you feel like they are your best friend, but they will get you a (underpaid) job.
Original post by SocialistIC
We live in a country with many more people of working age than there are jobs. It's all very well acting like it's their fault but for the vast majority it isn't.


My flat-mate in the first year of his degree and with almost no working experience got a job at a call centre recently. One of his co-workers also works there and the income from that job is enough to support his living costs in the same block of flats as our student accommodation. There are jobs, the non-disabled unemployed are simply either too lazy and/or proud and/or lacking in initiative to take them.
(edited 9 years ago)
I have been searching for a job for the past year now. I've been into stores, looked online, in papers, everywhere, and I still don't have a job.
i'm fed up with seeing perfectly do-able jobs, where you need very little training at all to do, being advertised as apprenticeships! I can understand some careers, such as mechanics, but I recently saw a years apprenticeship to be a pot-washer! How much training does that need?! Surely not a years worth!
I cannot take those jobs, my transport would cost me more than I would earn. Calling it an apprenticeship just to pay you less really annoys me.

A small number of unemployed do abuse the system, but the majority simply cannot do anything about it! What else can I do? I've done loads of work experience and volunteering, so they can't use lack of experience as an excuse. Yet I still can't get a job.

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