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UK: 1.6 million benefits claimants have never had a job 'because it does not pay to work'
UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/08/2010 | Daniel Martin

Posted on 12/08/2010 1:25:19 AM PST by iowamark

About 1.6million people in Britain have never worked, Iain Duncan Smith revealed yesterday.

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers and adults have become used to languishing on benefit because work simply does not pay, the Work and Pensions Secretary said.

He unveiled figures showing that 1.6million people aged at least 16 have never had jobs.

The figure, for the third quarter of this year, excludes those aged between 16 and 24 in full-time education.

Half are aged between 25 and 64 – meaning many have been unemployed or on incapacity benefits for decades...

Too many people have fallen into long-term benefits dependency, added Mr Duncan Smith.

At present, many benefits are abruptly stopped if people start work, so that many do not feel it is worthwhile to get a job

This leaves their self-esteem damaged and the skills rendered obsolete – even if illness had originally been temporary.

‘We have to make work pay,’ he said. ‘We have to help the most disadvantaged to find and take work.

‘And in return, we expect them to take the work when it is available.’

The Coalition Government’s ‘universal credit’ – which unites many existing benefits in one – would make it easier for around 700,000 to enter the workplace, he added...

‘We are pressing forward with the previous Government’s plans to reassess those on incapacity benefit.

‘At the heart of this reform is the work capability assessment, which determines claimants’ ability to work.’

The Department for Work and Pensions is currently reassessing some incapacity claimants’ claims.

Latest estimates are that 75 per cent of claimants are actually fit to work.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: getajob; tryworkingforaliving; unitedkingdom

1 posted on 12/08/2010 1:25:22 AM PST by iowamark
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To: iowamark

We have to make work pay,’ he said. ‘We have to help the most disadvantaged to find and take work.

‘And in return, we expect them to take the work when it is available.’

In the US, this is called DISCRIMINATION (sarc/off)


2 posted on 12/08/2010 1:28:55 AM PST by Artie
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To: iowamark

You don’t get Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits here unless you were laid off or fired through no fault of your own and you’ve worked there so many quarters already, with the exception of emergency unemployment. The UK must have a very different system. In most states here, the employers are taxed for the initial UI, only extensions and emergency UI come from all taxpayers. There are a few states where the employee is also taxed.


3 posted on 12/08/2010 1:34:50 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet ("You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." CS Lewis)
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To: Artie

They should have to work for the taxpayers. Cleaning, Yard work, Car washing. all kine of jobs for them. I have a lot of chores they could do.


4 posted on 12/08/2010 1:41:39 AM PST by screaminsunshine (Americanism vs Communism)
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To: iowamark

This is also what you get when you have a universal government-paid health care system, and a liberal welfare program. There’s no need to have a job in order to get all your medical needs covered.

With little incentive to be a producer, you get a lot of Andy Capp’s on the Dole. Creating a very large percentage of drones like this is the unintended consequences of being too liberal. The Brit’s are finding this out the hard way.


5 posted on 12/08/2010 1:46:17 AM PST by pyrless (If you're gonna burn our flag, make sure you wrap yourself in it first!)
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To: screaminsunshine

Trying to take jobs away from those employed in those jobs? ;-)


6 posted on 12/08/2010 1:55:21 AM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"You don’t get Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits here unless you were laid off or fired through no fault of your own and you’ve worked there so many quarters "

"languishing on benefit because work simply does not pay"

These people are "on the dole", not unemployment, from 16 or out of HS and not working.

For all the UK media I have read, I have not seen a difference between their welfare and unemployment payments.

One thing I would like to see emphasized in U.S.A. media is that when unemployment insurance runs out, qualified individuals go on welfare.

And to qualify for welfare, one usually needs to be married with kids!!

There is no welfare for singles who have run out of unemployment insurance.

yitbos

7 posted on 12/08/2010 2:05:59 AM PST by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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To: iowamark

The way to stop this sh*t is to never give these people any money, NONE at all. Food? Sure everyone has to eat, so set up regional soup kitchens where these people can show up 3 times a day for a balanced no frills meal. Clothes, ditto and only what they need. Same with shelter. Large warehouse like structures which can be filled with cots.

No cigarettes, no booze, no cell phone,no TV’s nothing but the very basics. I cannot think of a better way to get these schmucks off their dead asses and out to work.


8 posted on 12/08/2010 2:22:20 AM PST by 101voodoo
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To: iowamark

Yup. Why work when you get tax free income from the government? No wonder the UK is insolvent.


9 posted on 12/08/2010 2:27:51 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: 101voodoo

Instead the UK moves them to a free mansion if they have enough illegitamate kids, ‘cause gosh, they don’t want them to be crowded. It’s crazy.


10 posted on 12/08/2010 2:40:12 AM PST by GnuHere
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To: iowamark

“The figure, for the third quarter of this year, excludes those aged between 16 and 24 in full-time education.”

Why are they excluded?


11 posted on 12/08/2010 3:19:26 AM PST by FreeDeerHawk
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To: FreeDeerHawk

Because many full time high school or college age students don’t have jobs.


12 posted on 12/08/2010 3:28:14 AM PST by iowamark
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To: iowamark
"I've never had a job because I've never wanted one."

Stephen Morrissey.

13 posted on 12/08/2010 4:09:28 AM PST by wideawake
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To: iowamark

In the UK and the US, women have chosen to marry the government rather than the father(s) of their children.

In the 60’s, when young women considered careers rather than temporary work, they no longer felt compelled to marry for financial support. They did, however, continue to have maternal instincts, combined with ‘liberating’ sexual appetites. Thereafter, with free medical care, free food, free housing and other welfare income they discovered that men/husbands were not essential to survival.

Only the very principled young men are still pursuing marriage and stable family structure to raise their own children (and with their taxes - illegitimate offspring of the slovenly).


14 posted on 12/08/2010 4:46:09 AM PST by sodpoodle (Despair; man's surrender. Laughter; God 's redemption.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You don’t get Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits here unless you were laid off or fired

But the same theory holds true here. I have family members who milk unemployment for everything its worth. One maxed out his 99 weeks because he couldn't find the perfect job (and lo and behold, when the benes ran out, he found a job). Another one spends 8 months a year working and 4 months a year on unemployment. Any time you give people money, there is a risk they are going to milk the system because they are not forced to work to earn it.

15 posted on 12/08/2010 4:54:54 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard
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To: screaminsunshine

Better idea, pay someone to do those things for you.


16 posted on 12/08/2010 7:14:08 AM PST by BenKenobi (Obama's book of the month, Herman Melville's Killin' Whitey)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; iowamark
You don’t get Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits here unless you were laid off or fired through no fault of your own and you’ve worked there so many quarters already, with the exception of emergency unemployment. The UK must have a very different system. In most states here, the employers are taxed for the initial UI, only extensions and emergency UI come from all taxpayers. There are a few states where the employee is also taxed.

Correct. Under the US system and some others, things are different.

There are few people who suddenly take a job once benefits end, indicating that it's not just people waiting to take a job, but that the jobs are unavailable. One thing that separates the job market from a freely adjusting free market is that one usually can't just set one's sights lower and get a job, as many employers will not hire someone who is overqualified for fear they will leave if they find another opportunity.

17 posted on 12/08/2010 7:37:35 AM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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