No magic wand to solve the issues facing the unemployed

From: Paul Andrews, The Beeches, Great Habton, York.

I UNDERSTAND the frustration GP Taylor may feel about the number of unemployed who he feels should be made to work for nothing or have their benefits taken away. Ideally he may be right, but there are some practical difficulties (Yorkshire Post, August 26).

Firstly, there has to be work available. Recent employment figures show that in some cities the “employment rate” is less than 70 per cent. No matter how many charities there are which could do with unpaid workers, in present circumstances there are never going to be enough jobs in the voluntary sector to accommodate all the unemployed. So refusing benefits to people who won’t work for charities for free is unlikely to solve the problem.

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Secondly, I find it very difficult to believe that the majority of unemployed don’t want to work. There would seem to me to be some risks in tarring all the unemployed with the same brush. If we’re not careful we will end up stigmatising many people who do not deserve it.

My third point concerns the unemployed who don’t want to work. These are the people for whom it is said that living on benefits has become part of their culture. This may be true, but it has to be remembered that many of these are fifth and sixth generation unemployed – people who have never known work, never been trained, and have no hope of improvement.

The point is that it is not possible to wave a magic wand and provide an instant cure for something that may have been ingrained since birth.

Crackdowns of the type Mr Taylor recommends can never succeed, and can only lead to resentment and anti-social behaviour.

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The problem is long term, and for the long-term unemployed, the remedy will also have to be long term.

The only short-term remedy is to provide paid work for the unemployed who do want work – otherwise even more people will slide down the slippery slope which leads to long-term-unemployment and joining the underclass.

The banks should be compelled to lend more to businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses. They should be made to lend disproportionately in the North – where most of the unemployment is.

Why not? They got us into this mess: why shouldn’t they be made to get us out of it? They owe their survival to a publicly funded rescue bid. Now it should be their turn to repay the favour.

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

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AMID the sour tone of much of his article, GP Taylor (Yorkshire Post, August 26) raises the interesting point of people on Job Seekers Allowance carrying out voluntary tasks to the equivalent hours their benefit works out when compared with the minimum wage.

This is an idea I’ve had myself, and does separate those jobless who want to put back something into the community and those less concerned about the society in which they live. It also ensures that, unlike other schemes, people aren’t used as a source of cheap labour.