Can work, wont work.

[Knock-on]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6187169.stm

Nearly 1,000,000 people in the UK claiming Job Seekers allowance.

These are not the people with phony disability allowance etc but people that are eligible to work.

Finally, is the Government getting tough on these wasters? I doubt it but live in hope.

If you have been looking for a job for 6 months, should your benefit be stopped?

In my little world, it would be stopped after 3!!!

I don't like paying for a NHS system that is fundamentally flawed but live with it. However, I do mind paying people that can't be bothered to get off their fat 4rses and get a bloody job. I am sick of it.

"I'll be worse off if I took a job."

Hard sh!t. Get a job and start working yourself up. I earned £2.50 per hour when I was 16 washing dishes and would earn up to £150 per week minus taxes just to survive, pay my rent and go out with my mates. One of my friends "earned" about £40 per week from benefit and lived at home. All his bills were paid, his food and other niceties while I paid rent and bills. I was lucky to end up with £20 per week after everything but never even contemplated going down the Dole route.

However, it's so easy. He didn't take a job until he was 25 and then still had a 2 bed house off the state all paid for and allowance as he doesn't declare.

Now we're approaching our Forties, he still has a 2 bed house and benefit while I have a house, a career, a life and prospects.

We are not helping these people by giving them the soft option but damaging them and the countries economic future. Time for a swift boot up the backside and a double shot of reality, me thinks.

[BeansBeansBeans]

Genuine cases aside, I find it disappointing that people falsely claim benefits. I have inherited a strong work ethic from my father, and I feel guilty even if I take a day off work through illness. I have experienced a 5 week period of serious inactivity this summer whilst absent with a back injury, and I must say, I strongly prefer being at work to sitting at home all day rotting my brain.

[Drew]

I agree that people who just lay around and don't want a job shouldn't be given benefits allowance.

It's just how exactly can you tell the difference between people that they are really trying to look and not just wasting around?

[Eki]

I remember someone once saying about some Finnish men choosing civil service instead of military service: "It doesn't bother me that some choose civil service instead of military service as long Finland still has REAL men". I think it's similar with those who choose not to work. As long as there aren't enough jobs even for those who want to work, it's not a problem if someone is voluntarily unemployed, at least he/she is then out of the way of those who REALLY want to work and won't waste time of potential employers.

[Knock-on]

I remember someone once saying about some Finnish men choosing civil service instead of military service: "It doesn't bother me that some choose civil service instead of military service as long Finland still has REAL men". I think it's similar with those who choose not to work. As long as there aren't enough jobs even for those who want to work, it's not a problem if someone is voluntarily unemployed, at least he/she is then out of the way of those who REALLY want to work and won't waste time of potential employers.

Why should I pay for people that cant be bothered to get off their fat butt and contribute?

Is not the money I earn, mine?

F*ck them, I say. If you don't want to work, then don't expect my money to support you.

We have a great influx of Polish immigrants that want these jobs. They can come into this country with limited skills, limited communication and no support framework. Yet, they start with nothing and build up a life. Fair play to them.

Yet, why should we support people that can't be bothered to contribute.

[Eki]

Why should I pay for people that cant be bothered to get off their fat butt and contribute?

Because you're humane and don't want people to starve or freeze to death or become criminals or prostitutes to support themselves?

Or maybe you'd prefer the Latin American style death squads that go around killing street children like rats or other pests?

[Dazz9908]

Hear in Australia, We have a jobs boom.
But it's only in the large cities or mining towns.
I've been lucky so far, I've always found work.
But My daughter is nearing working age.
and there are very limited jobs hear in rural areas,
should she have to move to large cities with no family and friends just to find work??!!!
No Me thinks I like her close so I can help her to start her life of right. Thats why we pay taxes to help out!!.

[tannat]

I once received unemployment(our equivalent of job seekers I suspect) when I was laid off from a job. I searched aggressively for months, yet nothing transpired, and I applied for jobs along the entire spectrum (fast food to positions comparable what I'd lost). It was in a small town in south Georgia (United States), and the jobs were few.

I'm certain some of the population referenced could be described as lazy and free loading, but I'm also certain a proportion are having a rough time as I was. To those looking-good fortune. To the lazy ones- may they find their place in Dante's Inferno...

[Knock-on]

Because you're humane and don't want people to starve or freeze to death or become criminals or prostitutes to support themselves?

Or maybe you'd prefer the Latin American style death squads that go around killing street children like rats or other pests?

They do not need to be a criminal or a prostitute to support themselves, there is a sure fire, legal and fulfilling way of surviving. GET A JOB!!

Are you really trying to suggest that the 3 options are.

1. Get a Job
2. Take the Dole
3. Become a Hooker or a Criminal

out of those 3 options, if you remove 2. then the work shy will automatically resort to 3.?

You do come out with some "interesting" opinions.

We have made it too easy in this country to settle for 2. I suggest that we stop making it so easy and force people back to work. Perhaps if more people were back to work than sitting on their bums getting bored, then the crime figures in this country may start to fall. Just a thought

[courageous]

There are not enough jobs to go round though! We will never have 0 unemployment again - its good for business to be able to tell your workers that you can replace them (much easier to keep wages low).

I do agree that there are some people fiddling the system, but you have some people fiddling disability benefits & the solution is not to get rid of the entire system - go after the real benefit cheats, but you can't just draw a line in the sand with these things (the minute you commit to a black/white rule, people will find a way to stay within the wording of the law but not the spirit).