(Untitled)

[no_ambiguity]

What makes Purnell's plan to make the unemployed work for benefits really beyond the pale is that they won't be paid minimum wage. So they'll be working for less than minimum wage, and the work will take up time that could have been spent applying for jobs.

Comments

[robert_jones]

Discussing it with elise last night, I think we reached the conclusion that the unemployed should have to do as much work as would earn them the value of their benefits at the minimum wage, i.e. about 11 hours a week. That would still leave them with plenty of time to make job applications.

(I'm not convinced by the argument that working would leave the unemployed no time to look for proper jobs, by the way, since employed people seem to manage to look for new jobs.)

[palmer1984]

It would significantly reduce the amount of time available to look for jobs.

[babysimon]

The amount of time, yes. The amount of time+motivation - maybe not. I've seen in others and myself that it's easier to look for jobs when you're already working - it's quite easy to sink into apathy when you're not. Not that this happens to everyone, but I think it's quite a significant effect.

[cartesiandaemon]

Glib comment: But employed people obviously have some sort of advantage there. (Otherwise they wouldn't be employed.) I don't actually think that though: it's in everyone's interests that if someone can get a job, they do. The problem is, whether the plan is unnecessarily mean, degrading, and leading to worse plans

[andrewducker]

Alternative suggestion:
1) Create jobs.
2) Off unemployed people minimum wage to work in these jobs.
3) "Deal with" unemployed people who refuse these jobs.

Much more efficient and effective.

[emarkienna]

I agree, which I believe is already the case (i.e., I believe that people already have to take any job in order to receive unemployment benefit, after a certain period of time).

[andrewducker]

Well absolutely - the only thing left to bridge the gap is for the government to create jobs.

[ergotia]

Unemployed people who unreasonably refuse jobs *are* refused benefits.

[andrewducker]

Just made a post about this:
http://andrewducker.livejournal.com/1575054.html

[pjc50]

Public discussion around this subject is always disappointing. This proposal smells of