'Disturbing' rise in Bristol's workless households

“@ ceembee


"Job opportunities have been cut to virtually nothing - I remember a few years ago Wednesday's Post had pages & pages of jobs - look at the numbers now."

I think that equally might be a relection of how few people read the hard-copy these days, or indeed how few employers bother to take out expensive ads in newspapers. Online is probably a lot cheaper.

I think the point someone made about people being too picky is sadly right. I know someone who runs a corner shop. He advertised, via a sign in the shop window, for a month to get a shop assistant Mon to Fri, 9.30-2.30, £7 an hour, school holidays negotiable. He thought a local mum would jump at the chance.

He got two enquiries. One wouldn't do it for under £10 an hour, the other was ok with the money but wanted an hour break for lunch. Neither would budge.

So he went via the JobCentre Plus. Of the half-dozen people they sent to him, four made it clear they didn't actually want to work in a shop but would get their dole stopped if they didn't show up for interview, the fifth had a chronic back problem and therefore couldn't bend or pick things up at all, and the sixth was a gobby sixteen year old - and she got the job, and works like a demon, and is an asset to the place.

You never can tell!”

“Seems strange people love equal rights yet apply that to taxation and the left throw a fit ..Fair and just every one is treated the same in all ways

Agree on all your points Torysrule ,Meritocracy is my prefered method.

Work hard and achieve and reap the rewards”

“When people get £500 pounds net per week benefit (and that's only just being capped) no wonder there are so many workless households.”

“@Brennus, what drugs are you taking?

Only the rich are hardworking? No, just that the more hardworking you are, the more likely you are to be rich. Besides, 'rich' is such a naff word used by left wing prats like you to promote your 'them' and 'us' agenda. Grow up.

"I do believe that those who are well off should contribute towards those not so well off." Why? I earned it, who are you to say that I should just liberally hand it out?

"I also believe that corporations should pay a decent wage to their employees so that we taxpayers don't have to subsidise their profits by supporting their employees with housing benefit and tax credits – that will reduce all our tax bills" If a company increases its wages then they also reduce their profitable tax liabilities. What's gained in take home just gets taken from corporation tax and handed back in more PAYE. The net effect would be ****** all.

"It works in Germany and Japan, so why not here?" Because they have a skilled workforce with a work ethic? They also protect their workforce from immigrants but then that's another story. Plus their social housing is somewhat limited - they have little choice but to work like mad.

For the record, I pay for my children to be educated, pay for my parents to be cared for, pay for my healthcare and pay for my business' rubbish to be collected.

So yes, I don't want to pay for your ****** kids to get their ****** education, or your parents to be cared for in some home, or for your tobacco related illnesses. Mind you, I'm not sure many people really do enjoy paying for any of those through their taxes, especially when you sometimes see how they're spent.

As for "you don't like looking at the disabled and poverty-stricken begging on the street", it's pretty sick that you do enjoy watching that.”

“Unfortunately a significant proportion of the long term (over 12 months) unemployed have low to no skills & with little or no work history (some have no or minimal English language skills too) it is virtually impossible to find even the most basic menial employment.
Job opportunities have been cut to virtually nothing - I remember a few years ago Wednesday's Post had pages & pages of jobs - look at the numbers now.
There are plenty of work-shy people too as well as those who have absolutely no idea of what an employer expects of them & some have unrealistic ideas as to their worth to an employer & look for a hefty salary & don't see that what they have to offer is worth minimum wage at best.
There has been & will continue to be a rise in lone parents on the unemployment register as they are now required to look for work when their child reaches 5 years of age & have to claim job seeker's allowance instead of income support. This I feel may well result in further children being born so as to postpone being forced to claim JSA.
I think that those claiming benefit whose family size increases whilst on benefit should not be awarded additional benefits for the additional children. The current system I believe offers perverse incentives to feckless individuals.
On the other hand current austerity measures clearly are not having the desired effect & it is time this government funded major infrastructure projects to get the economy moving again.
As for the tax issue should I be in a position to pay the highest rate I would not be complaining. I think it would be my duty to society to pay up as it is more than likely it is the members of our society that made me wealthy. Remember the widow's mite & rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's?”

“Oh dear – there you go again, TorysRule, making wild assertions about someone you've never met.

I do try to avoid ad hominem attacks when I'm discussing issues, rather than playing the man instead of the ball like you do. Never mind.

I find it bizarre that you assume that everyone 'more unfortunate than you' are actually feckless wasters. That clearly demonstrates a rather bitter outlook on life and arrogant disdain for those 'not like you'. I pity you for this outlook.

I think you spend far too much time with your head buried in a copy of the Daily Mail, believing everything you read.

You also fall into the simplistic trap set by right-wing 'newspapers' that only the rich are hardworking. That's ignorant claptrap.

For the record, I do not believe that a 50% top rate of tax is acceptable – it's far too much. However, I do believe that those who are well off should contribute towards those not so well off. I also believe that corporations should pay a decent wage to their employees so that we taxpayers don't have to subsidise their profits by supporting their employees with housing benefit and tax credits – that will reduce all our tax bills.

It works in Germany and Japan, so why not here?

The trouble with you and your ilk is that you want your rubbish collected, your kids educated, your old folks looked after, the streets lit, bobbies on the beat, well-maintained roads,your local GP's surgery funded, powerful aircraft carriers looking after the national interest and you don't like looking at the disabled and poverty-stricken begging on the street, but you don't want to pay for it.

You can't have it both ways.”

“One day Brennus you'll grow up and realise that an enormous amount of the people in Britain that are "less fortunate than ourselves" choose to be.

If I ever make a bit of cash through hard work and dedication, I don't want to be paying an even greater proportion of it to fund lazy, unemployed drop outs. Taking risks, working well over the civil servant 9 'till 5 routine and starting something that's genuinely profitable should be rewarded.

But no, you and your Guardian friends will point their fingers and say "Ah ha! You earn more than me (despite working every hour under the sun) and so we're going to impose a 50% tax on you, plus higher employers contributions, higher pension requirements, more regulation etc!

Where's the fairness in that?

No doubt you hypocritically buy loads of junk from Amazon and eBay, ignoring the fact that they pay barely any UK duty.”

“I'm not sure I'd be happy to pay 40% tax if I ever get to earn a sufficient amount. I'm all for those who are impoverished by misfortune (such as those with genuine disabilities) to get help and certainly more than they receive at the moment. I'd be hugely resentful at having to pay a greater % to cover those who are less well off due to their own choice - I don't want to subsidise those who choose to do nothing, exaggerate illness or earn low salaries due to never looking to better themselves with education/training. These have nothing to do with 'ill fortune'.

If the current trend to choose a lifestyle living off the state continues where do we go? Do we first go to 50%, then 60%, then 70% for high earners to subsidise the increasing numbers of those 'opting out'?”

“Andyyandyy,

So your solution is a race to the bottom for everyone's wages except those at the very top?

I agree that we should 'open up our factories' to get rid of unemployment and start exporting, but unfortunately we'll always be undercut by those countries where the costs of production are cheaper. However, you mention Germany which is a great example. They have decent wages, an excellent export-led manufacturing economy and they still manage to have good worker protection. We should copy them.

This will be a difficult task as our industrial base was largely dismantled in the 1980s in favour of casino banking. Most sensible people now see the utter folly of this.

If we want to live in a fair, cohesive society where a hard day's work is rewarded - then we really need to revisit the value we put on that hard day's work. Allowing corporations to pay a pittance to their workers and expecting us taxpayers to subsidise them is not acceptable. If regulation is the answer, so be it.

What is clear is that we cannot carry on the way we are.

Big Gregory,

no, I don't agree that your argument is fair. And it's certainly not bitterness or jealously that drives me - simply a desire to see a fairer society where the jobs that we need done, but few want to do, are remunerated decently. I pay a (small) proportion of my salary at 40% and I do not begrudge that at all. It is a sign of a civilised society that we look after those who are less fortunate than ourselves and that we allow those who work hard, regardless of their innate ability or intelligence to have the opportunity to live a decent life. If we need to do that through the tax system, then so be it. Clearly, this doesn't extend to the minority who are feckless or idle.

TorysRule,

you don't know me or my situation, so please desist from making insulting, ignorant and immature comments. If you don't have a sensible, informed contribution to make, don't bother. You do no service to the political party you purport to support.

By the way, what's a DV?”

“Brennus

At the end of the day companies dont care about you or I all they care about is making a profit. that why when banks get charged more they pass the fees on to us. When Oil prices rise, we pay more at the pumps and all these companies record higher profits every year and that will never change. Unfortunately another side of it is because they are now international companies they are now moving abroad where it is cheaper. Take Cadbury, how many people became unemployed because the Government business rate tax was at a point that they have now moved operations to another country that offers lower taxes. We have gone from a country that had factories up and down the country which employed mass workers which is all now gone. Countries like Germany have a high export market and are probably the richest country in Europe, not bad for a country that was bankrupt only 60 years ago.
Best way to get rid of unemployment is to open the factories and get people making goods and stop importing everything. Bring back skilled laborers where school leavers can leave school with a future and not rely on singing badly on xfactor.”