living in poverty

[WiseOwl182]

5 hours ago, Cyclone said:

This is the thought pattern that wiseowl was demonstrating.  The feckless poor and the deserving others (of which he is one).

How many job vacancies are there in the UK right now?

[Voice of reason]

17 minutes ago, WiseOwl182 said:

How many job vacancies are there in the UK right now?

This is my biggest struggle with the issue.

We have well publicised immigration, because people come here because of the demand for labour. It seems difficult to fathom why people can be out of work for long periods of time. I realise there will be pockets where easily commutable work is hard to find.

[Longcol]

4 minutes ago, Voice of reason said:

This is my biggest struggle with the issue.

We have well publicised immigration, because people come here because of the demand for labour. It seems difficult to fathom why people can be out of work for long periods of time. I realise there will be pockets where easily commutable work is hard to find.

Perhaps because most vacancies are in London and the South East whereas unemployment hotspots tend to be in the North and West.

[Voice of reason]

2 minutes ago, Longcol said:

Perhaps because most vacancies are in London and the South East whereas unemployment hotspots tend to be in the North and West.

To a degree, yes. But there are very many job opportunities in our region, where people from other countries have been needed to be recruited. Not just in specialist skill jobs.

[Cyclone]

12 hours ago, WiseOwl182 said:

How many job vacancies are there in the UK right now?

How many unrelated questions can you ask in order to avoid changing your opinion.

6 hours ago, CaptainSwing said:

It's not so hard to fathom.  Try imagining that some combination of the following applies to you:

 

-- You've spent the last 15 years bringing up a family, and not in paid employment.

-- You don't have any particular qualifications.

-- You're one of the 16% of UK adults who are "functionally illiterate".

-- You're in a group that tends to be discriminated against.

-- You're not physically strong enough to do manual work.

-- You don't have a car, or can't drive.

-- You've been wiped out financially by a divorce settlement.

-- You have a criminal record.

-- You have a drugs problem.

-- You're already long term unemployed.

-- You are homeless.

-- You don't have any family around to help you.

-- You're aged over 50.

-- You don't have any savings to fall back on.

 

The list could be extended almost indefinitely.  It doesn't take much imagination to think yourself into a situation where you'd find it very difficult to find a job.

Don't forget that you can be in work and still in effective poverty.  Perhaps a zero hours contract is what's available, you take it, you work, benefits are cut, and next week there are only 0 hours available for you.  Your benefits take months to reinstate.  What do you do in the meantime, you go hungry.

[Voice of reason]

8 hours ago, Cyclone said:

How many unrelated questions can you ask in order to avoid changing your opinion.

Don't forget that you can be in work and still in effective poverty.  Perhaps a zero hours contract is what's available, you take it, you work, benefits are cut, and next week there are only 0 hours available for you.  Your benefits take months to reinstate.  What do you do in the meantime, you go hungry.

A different situation to not being able to find work at all  . But what you describe there is a very bad situation that needs addtessing.

Zhc have been badly abused by lots employers. There are some cases where they make sense, for example very seasonal or fluctuating work. In those cases the job might not exist at all if a fixed hours contract was mandatory.

A solution that solves both, in a pragmatic way is needed asap.

[Voice of reason]

14 hours ago, CaptainSwing said:

It's not so hard to fathom.  Try imagining that some combination of the following applies to you:

 

-- You've spent the last 15 years bringing up a family, and not in paid employment.

-- You don't have any particular qualifications.

-- You're one of the 16% of UK adults who are "functionally illiterate".

-- You're in a group that tends to be discriminated against.

-- You're not physically strong enough to do manual work.

-- You don't have a car, or can't drive.

-- You've been wiped out financially by a divorce settlement.

-- You have a criminal record.

-- You have a drugs problem.

-- You're already long term unemployed.

-- You are homeless.

-- You don't have any family around to help you.

-- You're aged over 50.

-- You don't have any savings to fall back on.

 

The list could be extended almost indefinitely.  It doesn't take much imagination to think yourself into a situation where you'd find it very difficult to find a job.

Some of those could apply to some people. Many of them wouldn't preclude you from finding meaningful paid work. There's only 2 or 3 that would be serious blockers. The others should be worked round so the person doesn't find themselves indefinitely state dependant.

[Cyclone]

58 minutes ago, Voice of reason said:

A different situation to not being able to find work at all  . But what you describe there is a very bad situation that needs addtessing.

Zhc have been badly abused by lots employers. There are some cases where they make sense, for example very seasonal or fluctuating work. In those cases the job might not exist at all if a fixed hours contract was mandatory.

A solution that solves both, in a pragmatic way is needed asap.

We weren't talking about people who couldn't find work though, we were talking about poverty.

[Voice of reason]

31 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

We weren't talking about people who couldn't find work though, we were talking about poverty.

surely the two are intrinsically linked?

[I1L2T3]

12 minutes ago, Voice of reason said:

surely the two are intrinsically linked?

Why? 

 

Seen how cost of domestic energy bills and housing costs have gone up?

 

Poverty is not always the result of an individual’s lack of drive or ambition.