There is no excuse to be unemployed

60 jobs a week for 6months and you couldnt get a job? FYL your doing something wrong
in the last year alone ive started 3 jobs 1 was full time, then quit that when i got into uni and got 2 part time jobs 1 for at home 1 at uni and had offers from all 5 places ive applied
they are retail jobs but thats better than none

3 of my mates have got decent paying full time jobs since xmas, if you dont get a deent job within a few months, take up one of the many retail vacancies that seem to be available rather than moaning

Obviously there are going to be people who need what the state provides, and for those that TRULY need it, then I have no qualms. But to say it's ok for someone to stay on the dole for self-preservation? Maybe if they required the benefits just to survive. But other than that, I think the laws should be changed so that if you are an able-bodied adult with no excuse then you should only be provided for by the society somewhere near the bare minimum to survive. There is no excuse for such a person to leech off of the rest of us, even if they are "better off".

I wasn't sure what your view on this was based on your post, so I thought I'd elaborate on it with my views.

Like you said, there are almost always vacancies at fast-food places, so a lot of the problem is that people think they are too good for certain jobs, IMO :/.

It could be down to location. Your profile says you're in London and that's probably the easiest place in the country to get a job. Not all of us are lucky enough to have parents who live in London.

Does the number of job vacancies exceed the number of job seekers? NO! So it's inevitable that a certain amount of people will be jobless, and will remain so.

theres something like half a million registered vacanies, enough to get 1/4 unemployed a job

Maths fail?

theres something like 2 million employed

On the news there was a man saying, 'the foreigners work for peanuts'. But they can only for minimum wage ffs, which the last time I checked was hardly peanuts.

These British people need a good kick up the backside to get a job.

I agree with you completely. However, your post highlights the issue that I was trying to get at.

The problem is not with the individuals who use the system. The problem originates solely with the system itself, and it is the system that should be changed; it is futile to try and change the mindsight of thousands who 'misuse' the system.

2 and half million. Thus it a fifth.
And that figure of half a million vacancies includes part time and temporary work, that aren't really going to pay the bills, along with posts that will probably be filled by internal candidates.
And you are forgetting to include location and skill factors.

This is what the Daily Mail does to people's opinions. Sad really ...

Anybody can get a job in McDonalds or as a toilet cleaner for anywhere. The trouble lies in getting a job in the same field as your degree if you aren't somebody who has graduated from a "decent" university in accordance with league tables.