Comments on: Jobs guarantee http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/ Open Left is a project aimed at renewing the thinking and ideas of the political Left. We seek an open conversation across the Left about the kind of society we want and how we can best bring it about. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:33:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Gorle Appala Naidu http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-7089 Gorle Appala Naidu Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:32:46 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-7089 I want good Job I want good Job

]]> By: Latest unemployment figures show vacancies up and redundancies down « Scott LaPlant http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-343 Latest unemployment figures show vacancies up and redundancies down « Scott LaPlant Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:46:27 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-343 [...] during the same period. There are now 663,000 people long term unemployed, making the need for a job guarantee scheme even more [...] [...] during the same period. There are now 663,000 people long term unemployed, making the need for a job guarantee scheme even more [...]

]]> By: Latest unemployment figures show vacancies up and redundancies down | Left Foot Forward http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-341 Latest unemployment figures show vacancies up and redundancies down | Left Foot Forward Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:36:56 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-341 [...] during the same period. There are now 663,000 people long term unemployed, making the need for a job guarantee scheme even more [...] [...] during the same period. There are now 663,000 people long term unemployed, making the need for a job guarantee scheme even more [...]

]]> By: GuestA http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-336 GuestA Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:38:50 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-336 The worry is that so many ill people are currently being forced off sickness benefits as we speak. Even tougher love is the last thing these people need. I am currently off work sick with a chronic illness. I have worked all my life and paid tax (at a higher rate) and National Insurance - however I am teriffied of what my future will be under ESA. People I know from the MS support group - very sick people - have already been told they have failed the medical and have to work. These are people who see two or three specialists - people who are very ill.<br><br>It is one thing for someone like my step father who is in a wheelchair with a back condition to be helped to find work if he is able to work but quite another for people who are genuinely ill to be thrown off sickness benefits and made to look for work. It is truly wicked what is happening to many people right now under this government and many charities are speaking up. Sick people are already vulnerable and I genuinely fear these current reforms may cause an eventual suicide or death.<br><br>The government must immediately look at why ESA has gone so wrong and why it is so harsh in practice before there can be any real claim at having the higher ground. The ESA test observes if someone can walk across a room and pick up a coin etc etc yet it cannot take into account very real and disabling issues such as extreme fatigue. Because of that this reform is currently a very cruel process for far too many sick and vulnerable people and this needs addressing asap. The worry is that so many ill people are currently being forced off sickness benefits as we speak. Even tougher love is the last thing these people need. I am currently off work sick with a chronic illness. I have worked all my life and paid tax (at a higher rate) and National Insurance – however I am teriffied of what my future will be under ESA. People I know from the MS support group – very sick people – have already been told they have failed the medical and have to work. These are people who see two or three specialists – people who are very ill.

It is one thing for someone like my step father who is in a wheelchair with a back condition to be helped to find work if he is able to work but quite another for people who are genuinely ill to be thrown off sickness benefits and made to look for work. It is truly wicked what is happening to many people right now under this government and many charities are speaking up. Sick people are already vulnerable and I genuinely fear these current reforms may cause an eventual suicide or death.

The government must immediately look at why ESA has gone so wrong and why it is so harsh in practice before there can be any real claim at having the higher ground. The ESA test observes if someone can walk across a room and pick up a coin etc etc yet it cannot take into account very real and disabling issues such as extreme fatigue. Because of that this reform is currently a very cruel process for far too many sick and vulnerable people and this needs addressing asap.

]]> By: Reuben_Third_Estate http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-327 Reuben_Third_Estate Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:34:16 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-327 A seriously excellent idea. Even from a purely pragmatic perspective, an initiative like this has the potential pay for itself. It is clear from prior economic crises that a significant proportion of those who face unemployment find it incredibly difficult to work again. This was true even of the 'virtuous' unemployed men of the thirties, with whom the unemployed of the 80s were unfavourably compared. Put in a way that even makes sense to Tories, allowing long term unemployment to go unchecked demolishes human capital, undermines the tax base for the future, and leaves people unable to work to an extent that cant simply be cured with 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' type policies. There is nothing 'prudent' about allowing unemployment to go on unchecked simply to make the budget look prettier now. A seriously excellent idea. Even from a purely pragmatic perspective, an initiative like this has the potential pay for itself. It is clear from prior economic crises that a significant proportion of those who face unemployment find it incredibly difficult to work again. This was true even of the 'virtuous' unemployed men of the thirties, with whom the unemployed of the 80s were unfavourably compared. Put in a way that even makes sense to Tories, allowing long term unemployment to go unchecked demolishes human capital, undermines the tax base for the future, and leaves people unable to work to an extent that cant simply be cured with 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' type policies. There is nothing 'prudent' about allowing unemployment to go on unchecked simply to make the budget look prettier now.

]]> By: Caroline Ellis http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-326 Caroline Ellis Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:45:06 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-326 I totally support direct job creation and a jobs guarantee, I think we should strongly advocate this in the disability movement BUT I fundamentally disagree you have to frogmarch people into jobs, 1 million (at least) unemployed disabled people would jump at a proper job assuming it is freely chosen, doesn't leave you worse off and assuming you get a guarantee of effective support in the workplace and assuming that there's no punitive sanctions if it doesn't work out. Time too to properly value other contributions like raising kids and running a household (the only problem with these is that resposibility remains highly gendered). Hope the Demos proposals will be coproduced by those at the receiving end of what currently seems to me like a rather nasty disabling wasteful 'welfare' regime that leaves people poor and disempowered. I totally support direct job creation and a jobs guarantee, I think we should strongly advocate this in the disability movement BUT I fundamentally disagree you have to frogmarch people into jobs, 1 million (at least) unemployed disabled people would jump at a proper job assuming it is freely chosen, doesn't leave you worse off and assuming you get a guarantee of effective support in the workplace and assuming that there's no punitive sanctions if it doesn't work out. Time too to properly value other contributions like raising kids and running a household (the only problem with these is that resposibility remains highly gendered). Hope the Demos proposals will be coproduced by those at the receiving end of what currently seems to me like a rather nasty disabling wasteful 'welfare' regime that leaves people poor and disempowered.

]]> By: Liberal Conspiracy » Jobs for all? Really? http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-325 Liberal Conspiracy » Jobs for all? Really? Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:34:52 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-325 [...] Purnell and Graham Cooke have a good idea that the Jobs Fund should be extended to include older people, so that eventually everyone who has been unemployed for a year should have a guaranteed offer of a job. Their reasoning, that the government should become employer of last resort, is spot on. [...] [...] Purnell and Graham Cooke have a good idea that the Jobs Fund should be extended to include older people, so that eventually everyone who has been unemployed for a year should have a guaranteed offer of a job. Their reasoning, that the government should become employer of last resort, is spot on. [...]

]]> By: JoshuaGenner http://www.openleft.co.uk/2009/12/04/jobs-guarantee/comment-page-1/#comment-322 JoshuaGenner Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:32:31 +0000 http://www.openleft.co.uk/?p=1728#comment-322 Jame Purnell prescribes some tough love.<br><br>"Their policy is neither supportive enough, nor tough enough."<br><br>"They would have been dismantling the roof as the water was gushing in."<br><br>Whoever wrote those two lines should be knighted. Jame Purnell prescribes some tough love.

“Their policy is neither supportive enough, nor tough enough.”

“They would have been dismantling the roof as the water was gushing in.”

Whoever wrote those two lines should be knighted.

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