No-one is safe from jobs axe as the rich keep getting richer

The full scale of the economic crisis has never been apparent to me – at least not until last Monday. My father was made redundant from his managerial position with a firm based in Sowerby Bridge, working in a sector that seemed to have achieved stability and sustainability throughout these uncertain times.

But the fact of the matter is that whether you’re at the top of the pecking order, or at the very bottom of an organisation’s hierarchical structure, no-one is safe. The current economic climate is dictating who stays and who goes, with an alarming number of companies forced to make redundancies just to stay afloat.

Although no-one in employment is safe at this time, news of bankers being made redundant is unheard of and the financial sectors seem to have prospered from Government bailouts, while the vast majority of the British public continues to struggle. In February this year, reports suggested that RBS awarded its bankers £950m in bonuses – despite a £1.1bn loss in 2010.

I don’t want to jump on the bankers’ bandwagon but it seems clear to me that throughout this crisis, the rich keep getting richer – and the poor keep getting poorer.

The very organisations that caused this economic downturn are the only ones that don’t seem to have been affected financially and still continue to prosper. And with governmental cuts being implemented up-and-down the country, with the poorest areas worst-hit, these uncertain times will continue for the foreseeable future.

This country needs sustainability and solid, focused leadership to put the “Great” back into Great Britain. But with the Con-Dem Government at the helm, our glorious country could become an Eton mess.

From: Michael Parker, Robertshaw Crescent, Deepcar, Sheffield.

BEING a member of the long-term unemployed, I have for my sins been in the compulsory clutches of a private company supposed to “help” the likes of myself back into paid employment.

But after 11 of the 12 months I’ve had to arrange a work placement myself. The result of which is that I have now been “transferred” from Jobseekers’ Allowance on to Training Allowance and received a P45. Thus meaning that I am now considered in full-time training and hence no longer counted as unemployed.

Furthermore, I assume that upon placement completion I will be transferred back on to JSA having had to make a fresh claim – meaning that I will no longer be classified as long-term unemployed.

This begs the question as to how many more people are experiencing the same vagaries and what effect this has on the claimant count (especially the long-term unemployed section) from month to month.