Lower benefits cap

[Anna B]

Well for a start, 15% of the working population are now self-employed, the highest number since records began, and according to the Independent, 80% of those live in poverty. They are not young entrepreneurs, but cleaners, delivery drivers, taxi drivers etc.

 

Advertised jobs are also massively over subscribed, although figures vary according to type of job and locations, for example there are more jobs in London than the North East. A quick trawl of the Internet reveals the size of the problem, as does 'I, Daniel Blake.'

[Cyclone]

Are regular jobs in dwindling supply? That is quite a statement to make with no back up evidence.

 

Take June to August 2016. There were 23.3 million people working full time. This was an increase of 362,000 people more than a year before.

 

The number of people working part time was 8.58 million. This was an increase of 198,000 on the year before.

 

Therefore more full time jobs are being created and filled than part time. Why do you say that 'regular' jobs are dwindling?

 

http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/october2016

 

The number of UK workers on zero-hours contracts has leapt 20% in a year to more than 900,000, indicating that insecure employment has become a permanent and growing feature of the jobs market.

It's a sizeable amount.

[Robin-H]

It's a sizeable amount.

 

The number of people who now know they are on a zero hour contract has increased - there isn't actually data from employers that we can analyse to see if the actual numbers are increasing or not.

 

There has been a great deal of public attention on zero hour contracts, so more people are aware of what contract they are on than before.

[Cyclone]

Yes, I saw that explanation as well.

[Robin-H]

Well for a start, 15% of the working population are now self-employed, the highest number since records began, and according to the Independent, 80% of those live in poverty. They are not young entrepreneurs, but cleaners, delivery drivers, taxi drivers etc.

 

Where does the Independent get their figures?

 

I would imagine living in poverty would make someone rather anxious, so Im surprised that the numbers of self employed people reporting as being anxious isn't higher..

 

The Office for National Statistics collects data on wellbeing as part of its Labour Force Survey, with large volumes of respondents reporting on their wellbeing as measured by 4 dimensions: how anxious they are; how happy; how satisfied with life and the extent to which they feel what they do is worthwhile.

 

On anxiety levels there is little difference between the self-employed and the employed. On the three other measures, the self-employed tend to have higher very positive views while the employed are more likely to have more moderated views.

 

While this cannot be attributed solely to differences in employment status, it perhaps fits with the notion of the self-employed having more control over their lives. It is worth noting that these results are consistent with the regular Labour Force Survey results whereby there tends to be a higher proportion of employees looking for a different or additional job compared to the self-employed (7 per cent compared to 4 per cent in both Q2 and Q3 2015).

[Petminder]

You've either entirely misread what I wrote, or deliberately misunderstood in order to get upset.

I didn't call anyone specific an idiot. Certainly not a poster in this thread.

People who don't actually bother to find out the facts about things and refuse to learn even when told though, I think the label is appropriate.

Only an idiot would think that a cap meant that lots of people were receiving that amount. If you decided you were one of those idiots, that's not really my problem.

I can't prove or disprove how many people think that a benefit cap of 20k/annum believe that's because many people claim benefits greater than that, can you?

I can prove that people who believe that are factually incorrect of course.

And missing the point here as well. Nobody said that they SHOULD be claiming this, or that it was somehow a good thing to do. They simply pointed out that the amount they can claim is so far away from 20k/year that it's not even funny. £3360/year, not counting HB which I'm going to guess is about 5k/year for a single <25 person.

 

Having an opposing opinion to you isn't evidence that they haven't looked into or understood the facts.

[Anna B]

Where does the Independent get their figures?

 

I would imagine living in poverty would make someone rather anxious, so Im surprised that the numbers of self employed people reporting as being anxious isn't higher..

 

The Office for National Statistics collects data on wellbeing as part of its Labour Force Survey, with large volumes of respondents reporting on their wellbeing as measured by 4 dimensions: how anxious they are; how happy; how satisfied with life and the extent to which they feel what they do is worthwhile.

 

On anxiety levels there is little difference between the self-employed and the employed. On the three other measures, the self-employed tend to have higher very positive views while the employed are more likely to have more moderated views.

 

While this cannot be attributed solely to differences in employment status, it perhaps fits with the notion of the self-employed having more control over their lives. It is worth noting that these results are consistent with the regular Labour Force Survey results whereby there tends to be a higher proportion of employees looking for a different or additional job compared to the self-employed (7 per cent compared to 4 per cent in both Q2 and Q3 2015).

 

Err... Have you not heard that mental health is in crisis at the moment, with anxiety and depression being the most common form of mental ill health? And I would argue that one of the leading causes for that is unemployment and uncertainty about employment.

[Cyclone]

Having an opposing opinion to you isn't evidence that they haven't looked into or understood the facts.

 

In this case it is.

I mean, feel free to prove me wrong, but the numbers of people that will be affected by the cap has been widely publicised.

 

---------- Post added 14-11-2016 at 14:12 ----------

 

The cap is designed to cap.

Only an idiot who hadn't even read the basic articles about the issue would think that many people are receiving that much.

 

This is still true. It's not my "opinion" about how many people will be affected by the cap, it's just facts. People who have an opinion contrary to the facts are (IMO) idiots.

[Petminder]

In this case it is.

I mean, feel free to prove me wrong, but the numbers of people that will be affected by the cap has been widely publicised.

 

---------- Post added 14-11-2016 at 14:12 ----------

 

 

This is still true. It's not my "opinion" about how many people will be affected by the cap, it's just facts. People who have an opinion contrary to the facts are (IMO) idiots.

 

Fact in your opinion.

[Robin-H]

Err... Have you not heard that mental health is in crisis at the moment, with anxiety and depression being the most common form of mental ill health? And I would argue that one of the leading causes for that is unemployment and uncertainty about employment.

 

With all due respect, what you argue isn't going to really convince me, I would like to see some supporting facts and figures.

 

I'm not claiming that there isn't anybody who isn't stressed and anxious because of uncertain employment, or unemployment, only that the figures don't suggest that the rise in people reporting to have mental health issues is because of that.

 

Firstly, unemployment is at a record low, so you cannot equate the rise in mental health issues to a rise in unemployment.

 

As the other figures I posted show, people who are self employed are just (if not more) satisfied with their jobs than people in full employment. That is also true for people on zero hour contracts (stats for which I have posted here before).

 

Figures actually suggest that the rise is because of much more young people (particularly girls) are either having, or reporting to have, issues. Rather than uncertain employment being the cause, it is thought to be largely due to pressures caused by social media, something that didn't really exist 20, or even 10, years ago.

 

---------- Post added 14-11-2016 at 14:24 ----------

 

Fact in your opinion.

 

Are you refuting that only a small number of total benefit claimants will be affected by the cap (as most receive much less), or do you agree that that is a fact? If you are refuting it, I would like to see your figures.