2nd-4th January 2013 by Sy Hawkes

Firstly my apologies to those interested in my blog that I've not posted for the last couple of days, I've been busy making job applications for a few jobs that I've seen advertised that no doubt will even be read by the employers, but hey i’m pretty used to hearing nothing back from job applications by now. I have been really struggling lately to find any suitable job vacancies, it seems that 95% of jobs available in Worcester at this present time require the applicant to have a specific set of skills and qualifications and recent applicable work experience, therefore rendering most of them unsuitable for me to even apply for.

It sicken’s me that that I'm waking up on a daily basis & seeing that whilst i am long-term unemployed at the hands of an out-of-touch and incompetent government that has no idea on the reality and daily struggles of an ordinary man or woman in this country, personally i am a striver and I do genuinely want to work, and I am trying hard everyday to do so, applying for any job vacancy that I'm suitably skilled for. 

This Tory Government likes to harp on endlessly about how “It should pay for people to work in this country” and they're planning to cap welfare/social security benefits, yet they lack a clear and credible plan to actually create the jobs that are pretty much non-existent in this country. It has been said today that there are 130,000 JSA Claimants over the age of 25 that have been unemployed for 2 years or more which is the category that I unfortunately fall under.

This out-of-touch CONservative/Lib Dem coalition need to start focusing their efforts into just HOW they will create the jobs and growth in this country that is so desperately needed, instead of brainwashing the minds of the working classes with lies about how all the unemployed people in this country are nothing but “Scroungers”. 

They make tax-cuts for the employed/ and welfare cuts for the unemployed/sick and disabled, they truly are as i have said before and will keep on saying, completely out of touch, incompetent and yet they seem to want everyone in this country to work and pay their way, yet they punish the unemployed whilst they are genuinely trying so hard to look for work that simply is not there for people, admittedly there is a section of the unemployed people in this country that are playing the system and don’t want to work, but there is also the high majority that actually do want to work and make a better life for themselves but are being prevented from doing so as the opportunities simply are not there.

It is completely unacceptable to make the unemployed/sick & disabled people of this country suffer in a poverty trap they are unable to climb out of we are a developed country the 7th richest country in the world NOT a third world country. Most our people in this poverty trap on benefits are not being able to afford to eat sufficiently each and every day and many are suffering with malnutrition and weigh-loss. Now the question that needs to be raised here is, What employer will offer a job to somebody who is showing clear signs of malnutrition and weakness and are unable to present themselves cleanly and smartly? It is a commonly known expectation of most employer’s that you should be clean and presentable and smart and well nourished when going to interviews etc, and this means the expense of money, hair-cuts, interview clothing and footwear, the laundry of clothes, the travel expenses etc, yet this government can provide NO financial assistance for these things for the long-term unemployed. When a jobseeker is placed onto the ‘Work Programme’, the relationship between the jobcentre and the JSA claimant penultimately ends, and all the the jobcentre offers to these people is to accept a ‘Drop & Go’ form from the claimant once per fortnight. There is no fund held by the jobcentre’s to assist claimant’s with the purchase of interview clothing/footwear , or travel expenses (without an application that takes 10-14 days to process) to attend any interview that was offered. There is also NO investment in the training and development of JSA claimants, only an expectation for them to get into work, and without any investment in our people it is only reasonably expected that the majority will enter into unskilled, dead end jobs with no scope whatsoever for career development.

I would also like to point out some recent observations in the news to anyone reading my blog:

• UK survey suggests country is heading for a Triple-Dip recession in 2013.
• 1 million people have taken out pay-day loans as a last ditch desperate attempt for survival in this country last year.
• 130,000 jobless people in this country that have been out of work for 2 years or more and are over the age of 25.
• Labour introduce a plan that will guarantee jobs for the 130,000 people affected by long-term unemployment, which will provide them a job lasting for 6 months.

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Original Article written by Sy Hawkes on 4th January 2013 & published via ThisIsBrokenBritain