Is / have the white working class becoming more benefit dependant?

[WeX]

they are addicted because they have been brain washed they are entitled to state hand outs. kids these days are too snobby to work in a factory even when they have no qualifications to their name. most's long term plans are to win the lottery, become a footballer or marry one. its very sad.

[WeX]

its simple socialist maths. maintain or increase the under-classes as they will vote you back into power come what may. unfortunately we have but 2 choices in this country, tory or labour and would you vote tory if you had very little to your name, no you would vote for the the one that prides itself on being the party of social mobility, forgetting the fact social mobility lessened under labour. these voters are too thick to grasp that fact and continue to vote labour in complete ignorance if the facts thinking labour will somehow pluck them from poverty or in the very least increase your benefit payments so you can afford yearly holidays and flat screen tv's all without understanding the real value of work or money.

[marshlad]

Crazy question maybe your first impression especially if your a Guardianst and worships everything BME, but generation after generation of WWC's are also being brought up in 'normalised' workless 2nd / 3rd generation sink estates with a 'normalised' huge dependency on benefits.

 

Despite intrusive intervention by the previous government, the majority of children born on such turf are simply not breaking this trend later in life, therfore creating a much larger 'underclass' population, and more dependent on welfare.

 

If people have never worked in their lives then they are NOT working class.

[Darth Vader]

As for your other points in total agreement. The OP doesn't include a question just a statement loaded with a hint of racism and a snipe at Guardian readers. A classic troll for someone on a day they are finding boring.

 

Yes, it seems to be a common feature. It was Somalians that got the brunt the other day.

[Wildcat]

its simple socialist maths. maintain or increase the under-classes as they will vote you back into power come what may. unfortunately we have but 2 choices in this country, tory or labour and would you vote tory if you had very little to your name, no you would vote for the the one that prides itself on being the party of social mobility, forgetting the fact social mobility lessened under labour. these voters are too thick to grasp that fact and continue to vote labour in complete ignorance if the facts thinking labour will somehow pluck them from poverty or in the very least increase your benefit payments so you can afford yearly holidays and flat screen tv's all without understanding the real value of work or money.

 

Since you mention uninformed opinions.... perhaps you could explain why people would think Labour was good for people on benefits when the evidence shows that during Labour's period of office the poor didn't share in the prosperity or increased earnings the rest of us enjoyed (see graph1)....

 

http://www.poverty.org.uk/09/index.shtml?2

 

... although for a complete picture it is interesting to note how everyone except the very rich have been in relative decline over the last 30 years with wages as a proportion of GDP falling from around 60% to just over 50% (see figure1)

 

http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/unfairtomiddling.pdf

 

The question should be why is the electorate voting in parties over the last 30 years who are allowing their share of profits to decrease?

 

Perhaps it is not just the poorest who are uninformed?

[WeX]

Since you mention uninformed opinions.... perhaps you could explain why people would think Labour was good for people on benefits when the evidence shows that during Labour's period of office the poor didn't share in the prosperity or increased earnings the rest of us enjoyed (see graph1)....

 

http://www.poverty.org.uk/09/index.shtml?2

 

... although for a complete picture it is interesting to note how everyone except the very rich have been in relative decline over the last 30 years with wages as a proportion of GDP falling from around 60% to just over 50% (see figure1)

 

http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/unfairtomiddling.pdf

 

The question should be why is the electorate voting in parties over the last 30 years who are allowing their share of profits to decrease?

 

Perhaps it is not just the poorest who are uninformed?

 

well the answer is simple isn't it. these people are too thick to realise the situation they are in which i think i did actually say.

[xenia]

I work in the security industry. In London and other areas the people working in my industry and other service industries are 85% immigrant. At the same time in parts of the north and midlands we have 3rd and 4th generation who have NEVER worked.

 

They are trapped by a benefits system which doesnt discourage them working it prohibits them.

 

In the past the working man had to move to where the work was. In parts of the Yorkshire coalfield men and ther families moved from all the country to work here when the pits were sunk. The men who built the canals and the railways moved with the job. They had to, you had to work to survive.

 

The benefits system has been abused since it was brought in in 1948.

 

The answer? create affordable housing in areas of manpower shortage, end the dole, stop immigration.

[sharrowman]

There is no such thing as a coherent grouping of the white working class.

[Mister M]

Also worth considering that £8 billions of benefits per year goes unclaimed

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=414109&in_page_id=2

 

And that in spite of the stereotypes that are foisted on us by politicians and media, there is a strong work ethic in lots of unempolyed people

 

http://www.jrf.org.uk/media-centre/no-pay-low-pay-cycle

 

I'm not saying that no one doesn't swing the lead or try hard enough (lots of people in work swing the lead - lol); but the picture is complicated by a number of factors that aren't often printed in tabloids

[boyfriday]

The answer? create affordable housing in areas of manpower shortage, end the dole, stop immigration.

 

That's a superficially compelling solution, but its the politics of soundbites.

 

Affordable housing already exists in areas of manpower shortage, that's where the people who dont want to work already live.

 

Is ending the dole really possible? What would 3 million people taking to the streets in protest be like? Swelled in number by working people, students and others who would never support such a draconian proposal.

 

Ending immigration, this is always the easy answer, stop the flow of foreign labour and suddenly native Brits will fill the shortfall. But is that really true?

 

Are native Brits available in sufficient numbers to cover shortages, particularly in skilled and semi skilled occupations?

 

We may well be able to find a few hundred to don a donkey jacket and patrol construction sites at night, or harvest Norfolk beetroot, but often they're lacking motivation and are an unattractive prospect from an employers point of view who obviously want the most effective workers for the lowest cost.