The end result?

Immediately before the First World War the two largest employment categories in Britain were "Agricultural Workers", closely followed by "Domestic Servants".

I don't see farming bouncing back as a source of employment, but I'd guess that over the next twenty years "Non Residential Domestic Help & Care Workers" will have overtaken "Retail" to become the big employment growth category of the 21st Century.

Back in those days , the people in the industries that you describe earned so little they did not consume much either , if we go back to low pay for millions( which seems to be the case that is happening right now ) who is going to buy the so called wonderful products that the industrialist's need the masses to buy to keep themselves rich.

more crap jobs

How is it possible to live in London on these wages?

Jobs winners and losers since 2001

The figures, which were revealed in a report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), a Government-funded body, also show that many state-funded occupations have enjoyed substantial growth since 2001.

Occupation category	Numbers (2001)	Numbers (2009)	% Decrease
Assemblers (electrical products)	108,076	33,885	69
Collector salespeople and credit agents	26,735	9,794	63
Assemblers (vehicles and metal goods)	68,745	26,556	61
Typists	36,682	15,189	59
Bookbinders and print finishers	36,266	15,385	58
Metal-making and treating process operatives	27,732	11,910	57
Metal machine setter and setter-operators	94,580	40,708	57
Telephonists	49,581	22,090	55
Precious instrument makers and repairers	35,907	19,559	54
Sewing machinists	74,480	35,757	52
Tool makers, tool fitters and markers-out	35,691	17,136	52
Printing machine minders and assistants	34,098	18,060	47
Telephone salespeople	93,014	52,020	44
Roundsmen and van salespeople	35,300	35,300	43
Plastics process operatives	69,596	39,492	43
Textiles and garment trades	59,261	35,492	40
Quality assurance technicians	20,705	8,255	40
Shopkeepers and wholesale and retail dealers	204,638	123,516	40
Glaziers and fitters	59,255	36,397	39
Metal-working machine operatives	110,029	67,626	39

The winners

Occupation category	Numbers (2001)	Numbers (2009)	% Increase
Conservation & environ. protection officers	11,797	26,470	124
Paramedics	11,101	23,798	114
Legal associate professionals	24,509	51,250	109
Refuse and salvage occupations	21,750	44,393	104
Leisure and theme park attendants	11,101	22,471	102
Town planners	13,886	26,931	94
Educational assistants	252,358	482,979	91
Driving instructors	23,265	44,494	91
Registrars and senior educational administrators	25,195	44,210	75
Purchasing managers	24,415	41,457	70
Psychologists	20,947	35,080	67
Undertakers and mortuary assistants	11,157	18,379	65
Beauticians and related occupations	32,476	53,055	63
Youth and community workers	70,868	114,992	62
Senior officials in special interest organisations	17,767	28,385	60
Housing and welfare officers	110,357	176,173	60
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers	15,129	24,079	59
Pharmaceutical dispensers	25,505	40,052	57
Social service managers	32,201	50,463	57
Statutory examiners	11,067	17,275	56

Jobs market getting worse

Link


And how many times does this have to keep happening before we do something about it? And by doing something about it I do not mean making government non jobs, I mean actually making and exporting things people want.

Its too late for this girl, is it too late for the rest of us

Unspun stats

The employment rate for the three months to February 2010 was 72.1 per cent. The rate was down 0.3 on the quarter and it has not been lower since the three months to October 1996. The number of people in employment fell by 89,000 on the quarter to reach 28.82 million. There were falls in employment over the quarter for both full-time workers (down 59,000) and part-time workers (down 30,000). The number of employees and self-employed people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job increased by 13,000 on the quarter to reach 1.05 million, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.

The unemployment rate for the three months to February 2010 was 8.0 per cent. The rate was up 0.1 on the quarter and it has not been higher since the three months to September 1996. The number of unemployed people increased by 43,000 over the quarter to reach 2.50 million, the highest figure since the three months to December 1994. The number of people unemployed for up to six months fell by 46,000, to reach 1.22 million. However, the number of people unemployed for more than twelve months increased by 89,000 over the quarter to reach 726,000, the highest figure since the three months to July 1997.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=12

Told you it was getting worse

Link

UK unemployment has broken through the 2.5 million mark for the first time since the Labour government came to power, after the jobless total jumped by 43,000 in the three months to February.

At 2.502 million, the number of people out of work is at its highest since the last three months of 1994. The jobless rate is now 8%, its highest since 1996.

And this is before the election post election there will be some massive austerity going on there is no other choice!

Another view

I have worked in recruitment. I wouldnt recommend it but it keeps the wolf from the door.

I've done two jobs in high street recruitment. The thing that bothered me was, that you are supposed to be trained up by people who have no interest in you doing well, as if you do, you are a threat.

This means they only help the people stay who they see as not a threat. I've seen this in a few sales jobs.

You can do the best job you could possibly do, but if you dont hit the numbers they want, or if they take a dislike to you, you are out.

The other thing I dont like in this sort of job, is that to establish dominance, you are expected to suck up unfair criticism or jokes at your expense, and if you dish it back, its seen as you being arrogant.

If you can tug your forelock while lazy fuckers tell you how they are great while looking like they are scared of you, give it a go.

I reckon it could be an ok job, if it wasnt for the shitty management style that has people fighting against each other like cat and dog rather than helping each other.

Call centre work is better to be honest.

I suspect being a rep would be similar but better.

Be aware that the rate of staff turnover in recruitment is high. They have no interest in helping you, its just sink or swim.

If you are good at brown nosing, it could be the job for you.

I'd love to get into a technical job to match my engineering degree, but mostly I do shitty sales stuff where they treat you like shit, because you are a disposable resource rather than someone worth investing in.

The view from the other side

Continuing this theme of recruitment consultant hatred here is a view from an acquaintance from the other side:

It was the worst job I have ever had in my life.

Not only do you have to be professionally two-faced, lie on a daily basis to both clients and candidates but you also have to be completely cold-blooded and uncaring.
I worked in quite a small market placing people into Social Housing positions. The jobs weren't particularly well paid in the first place, and then you had to take a cut of it - so a £10 an hour placement quickly became a £6 an hour job for the candidate.

I went home thoroughly demotivated every day. The culture is competative and the majority of recruitment consultants only cared about how big a margin they could negotiate and how much money they earned. Very, very few actually had anything interesting about them.

What has happened over the last few days

I got caught in the fake job bullshit again, in that normally big recruitment agency firms like Reed or Man power rarely have fake jobs, but quite recently even they have been putting up fake jobs and just lying through their teeth. I was told by Reed Manchester that there would be a job at Cowgill Holloway in Manchester. But I know the HR person there, and know of a couple of people who have survived the chop. I phoned them up immediately after the call with the agent, no such vacancy existed. Same thing happened with CLB coopers.

Some recruitment firms are even worse in that they simply make up a name of an accountancy firm, they thing we are stupid or something? In that we can't search the ACCA or ACA or CIMA lists if these companies exist or not? Or even just go through Yell?.

I've always hated people who have given false hope to others as it would be better to have not given them hope in the first place.

Apprentices to be paid £2.5/h

From here

So apprentices are to be paid £2.5/h erm apprentices are already paid £95 a week so what is the difference then?

Lies, damned lies, statistics and labour government propaganda.

Here

For November 2009 to January 2010:
The employment rate was 72.2 per cent and there were 28.86 million employed people.
The unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent and there were 2.45 million unemployed people.
The inactivity rate was 21.5 per cent and there were 8.16 million working age inactive people.
The employment rate for the three months to January 2010 was 72.2 per cent. The rate is down
0.3 on the quarter and it has not been lower since the three months to November 1996.
The number of inactive people of working age increased by 149,000 over the quarter to reach a record high of
8.16 million.
The number of people in employment was 28.86 million in the three months to January 2010,
The number of people in part-time employment was 7.70 million in the three
months to January 2010,
The number of people in public sector employment was 6.10 million in December 2009, up 7,000
from September 2009.


Hold on inactivity? I'm sorry do you mean unemployment? so there are 2.5million officially unemployed and yet there are also 8.2million who are inactive or as we would normally call them unemployed. So you mean there are 10 million unemployed then?

Spit it out, an unemployed person is somebody without a job, a bitter pill no matter how you dress it up with an euphemism it is still a bitter pill.

Trends

A continuation thread.

In the past couple of threads I mentioned migrant workers and outsourcing. Here is what I think about it.

In that in the past 10-15 years perhaps longer, the middle class white collar office workers generally had the I'm alright Jack mentality regarding work, in that they were ok so others must be ok. Bah you manufacturing low skilled work scum! Who cares about you? In that I'm alright and all that migrant labour and outsourcing means that things are cheaper for me.

So at the cafe I have a Polish bloke or woman serving me, but it keeps prices down right? Or at a factory for a supermarket they are stuffed full of migrants who work for less than minimum wage as the truck acts don't seem to apply to them. (This is where being paid in kind say vouchers for use at a factory shop is illegal). Hey it is A OK if I can buy cheap clothing at supermarkets and cheap clothing.

Those at the bottom who cares? damn them damn them all they should have got an education! As long as it ends up in cheaper goods for me that is all that matters.

But what if the working class complain about migrant workers?

I know lets call them racists and BNP supporters to stiffle debate and descent in our work places.


That was the mentality and it still is...

Except they forgot one thing in that it was the start of a slippery slope, in that migrant workers and outsourcing and insourcing (bringing people here to do jobs much like the fuel refinery issue in 2009 so we can pay them less). It spread far and wide.

Now bosses seeking to lower costs are starting to attack the middle class white collar jobs, it happened at my old firm the staff were one by one replaced by outsourcing and then the staff at the office were replaced by Poles.

As with the prior post I do not blame the Polish people individually, but the complete selfish nature of society in general which has come back to bite us on the ass. So I hope you enjoyed all of those cheap coffees cheap clothing and cheap food as the cost saving methods are moving into other areas.

They came for the jobs of the working class and now they come for the jobs of the middle class, it is no use stomping your feet as it has begun and it is an unstoppable juggernaut.

Intern exploitation gets more media attn

Here

British companies don't want British workers

So much for Gordon' s promise of British jobs for British workers here

Really? (daily wail alert)

Or here?

I don't blame the Polish for seeking out work; seeking out opportunities to work is commendable. I don't blame the Indian people for dismantling the UK IT industry either. I blame Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for destroying the country. To actively encourage job destruction through unfair competition is treasonous. They are meant to make decisions that help the British people and Great Britain. My conscience is clear. I never voted for these vacuous c*nts and never will. The country is now infested with illegal immigrants and limp-wristed liberal types. I got fed up with hearing about globalisation and how inevitable it all is.

Britain just allowed the flood of Polish people even though it didn't have to. It was a spiteful and calculated move to drive down wages. I don't mind the Polish. They all seem fairly decent but that doesn't mean it's right to alienate the British unemployed. What annoys me is that in a relatively short period of time the country has lost its identity. Why would I want to endure illegal immigrant ex-soldiers from Somalia and the like? Why is everyone shocked when all the lawless immigrants kill and rape us? It's racist to dispute these issues because we have become useless pussies. We cannot even say we hate a religion in our own country! Why the hell did my grandfathers bother fighting in WW1 and 2? What a waste of time. It's ironic to remember that Hitler had a lot of respect for Britain. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair don't even have that respect.

The war against wages

Here

Similar things happened here, unions what unions? Such things only exist for the public sector.

The article states employees who don't stay long a similar thing has happened in the UK whereby people are never full time employees. My old place did something similar you were employed on a contract for 11 months. Once this was up you were told to go home and were rehired at the same pay as your prior job, but since you are now a NEW employee you can be fired for any reason at all, since you NEVER hit the 12 month period you in effect have NO rights. Logically if you never hit one year you never hit 2 years and therefore you are NEVER entitled to redundancy!.

Question is what to do about this?

With minimum wage a joke exploited by unpaid overtime, no unions and no job security why do people stand for this?

When NMW isn't cheap enough

Mc'ds want you for free work

Precis work for Mc'ds for 10 days and get a GCSE B grade. Which seems a bit iffy to me, but this is early days.

On the flip side Mc'ds might not be exactly a great employer but at least you get paid exactly for the hours that you put in.

As said md 1990s worked there once, I work 10 hours I get paid for 10 hours it was something like £22 for that. Although staff turn over quickly and the morale is low they aren't THAT bad as employers I could never do it again though.

While in the modern day work place, like my old accounting firm I work 80+ hours get paid for 34.5 hours divide that hourly and I was being paid about £3-4 an hour gross before tax. Just goes to show even though Mc'ds may not be a great employer there are much worse ones out there.

Of course we can all hope that Karma sorts this out, in that if you kick people on the way up they may end up kicking you on the way down, question is why all the kicking in the first place?

How wide spread is this?

A quick search revealed lots of these scams:

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: NPS/40698


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


NOTTINGHAM, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE


06/08/2009
............

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BTR/17661


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BURTON-ON-TRENT, STAFFORDSHIRE


18/01/2010
............................

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: CRY/67747


MEETS NAT MIN WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: ROI/72250


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


ROTHERHAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
..........................

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: CHL/65855


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


CHESTERFIELD, DERBYSHIRE


18/01/2010
...........................................

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BAL/67828


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BARNSLEY, SOUTH YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
CROYDON, SURREY


25/01/2010
...................................

WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: CVD/71725


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


SHEFFIELD, SOUTH YORKSHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: ROI/72250


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


ROTHERHAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: CHL/65855


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


CHESTERFIELD, DERBYSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BAL/67828


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BARNSLEY, SOUTH YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: DCG/30621


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


DONCASTER, SOUTH YORKSHIRE.


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: MHH/15262


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


MANSFIELD, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: RET/24937


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


RETFORD, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE


20/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: HUD/87506


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


HUDDERSFIELD, WEST YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: MAC/50174


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PER ANNUM


MACCLESFIELD, CHESHIRE


18/02/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: OLH/75310


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PER ANNUM


OLDHAM, LANCASHIRE


18/02/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: HAF/57244


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


HALIFAX, WEST YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: LPP/43459


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE


06/08/2009


WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: ROC/63531


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PER ANNUM


ROCHDALE, LANCASHIRE


18/02/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: FTS/131763


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PA


MANCHESTER, LANCASHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: NPS/40698


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


NOTTINGHAM, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BDC/129220


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: SCN/11981


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


SCUNTHORPE, SOUTH HUMBERSIDE


20/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: LOS/32064


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


LINCOLN, LINCOLNSHIRE


20/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BTR/17661


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BURTON-ON-TRENT, STAFFORDSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: NOR/32172


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PER ANNUM


NORTHWICH, CHESHIRE


18/02/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: YOR/142611


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PA


YORK, NORTH YORKSHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: GNT/11459


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


GRANTHAM, LINCOLNSHIRE


11/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BOL/99226


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BOLTON, LANCASHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: SKP/32569


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


SKIPTON, NORTH YORKSHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: HUW/34304


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


HULL, NORTH HUMBERSIDE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: WBA/26668


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


WIGAN, LANCASHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: MEL/22103


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


MELTON MOWBRAY, LEICESTERSHIRE


11/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: BCK/33771


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE


18/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: PRS/112945


ON TARGET EARNINGS OF £30,000 PA


PRESTON, LANCASHIRE


06/08/2009
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: LCR/46340


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OTE £30,000 PER ANNUM


LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE


11/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: GTT/24529


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


GRIMSBY, SOUTH HUMBERSIDE


20/01/2010
WEB OPTIMISATION CONSULTANT

Permanent

Job No: WSQ/123249


MEETS NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE


LIVERPOOL, MERSEYSIDE

Revenge of the Job scam

Looks like a job initially doesn't it 30K 40 hours per week Monday to Friday, but look at the detail, this is actually an advert for a training scheme which YOU pay them £2500. Sooo uh how is this a job then? In that if YOU pay them 9/10 it is a scam, but you are buying a service to them and not selling your services to them therefore it isn't employment. Quite frankly it isn't a job it is an advert for training.

Bizarrely enough this IS still counted on the government statistics on their jobs available for people to apply to, the job centre website is littered with examples of these kinds of 'jobs' it again makes the government statistics not particularly credible. Oh there is loads of work out here, but when 1/4 of the 'jobs' are these then if the government claims there to be 100,000 jobs then 25,000 are not jobs. a good 1/4 jobs are scams and the other 2/4 are a combination of fake internships and or apprenticeships, with the few real jobs not working out (the pay is impossibly low) then where are all these jobs people scowl the unemployed for?

This takes the piss

Here


Essentially what it says is RBS and Lloyds bank are going to outsource jobs, the irony is that the British tax payer saved them in the first place and this is how they repay us?.

Without UK tax payer support these entities would no longer exist!

1200 Jobs gone

Quite frequently we hear from politicians oh manufacturing isn't important the knowledge economy is more important, so what do we do when the jobs in knowledge start to vanish?

AstraZeneca announces plans to close Loughborough site

The centre develops treatments for lung and breathing problems.

One of Leicestershire's major employers is to shut its operation with the loss of almost 1,200 jobs.

Managers at AstraZeneca's research facility on the outskirts of Loughborough met staff to discuss their future on Tuesday.

The firm announced 8,000 worldwide redundancies in January, following more than 12,000 posts going as part of earlier efficiency plans.

Over the past 10 years more than £100m has been spent developing the site.

In a statement, the company said it had "shared with its employees further details of proposals designed to improve the productivity of its global research and development organisation."

The Loughborough site is expected to close by the end of 2011.

A smaller facility in Cambridge is also to close, the company said.

Pharmaceutical development work will cease at its Avlon base near Bristol with some work being transferred to Cheshire.

The firm announced 8,000 worldwide redundancies in January, following more than 12,000 posts going as part of earlier efficiency plans.

For those of you who have jobs

Today I was going to comment about the revenge of the internship, however I've been busy with other things and instead bring you this extreme overtime.

The TUC states that 900,000 people are doing extreme amounts of overtime, on a regular basis which is unpaid...erm so if it is regular and unpaid then surely your salary should cover it right? In that if you work 100 hours on a salary of £500 a week then dividing it one by the other you get a simple answer of 500/100 = £5 an hour right?.

Does this yet again mean that minimum wage is meaningless? I am actually guilty of this myself in times past gone when I used to be paid £5500 for my first job I had as an accountant I worked officially 30 or so hours a week a full time role already I was underpaid NMW £3.02 an hour. Except I put more hours in as I had no choice ending up with my pay on an hourly basis somewhere around the £2.20 mark.

Hold on isn't NMW £5.80 yes it is but it is meaningless as business practices like this are so wide spread that the NMW is essentially meaningless. As I said again wab back in 1996 working in McDonalds I used to be paid £2.15-£2.25 an hour, how is it that a Mc'ds worker gets more than somebody who had to study for years to get a specific vocational qualification?.

It just makes no sense, this is hardly isolated in that Mc'ds staff clock in and clock out and are thus paid for EACH and every hour they attend, this includes briefings and meetings. I'm kind of surprised that Mc'ds staff are treated better than bloody office worker so called white collar staff.

The world ceases to amaze me at how far people will go to exploit others for profits, it seems that indenture never went away.


Additionally it isn't just the money side of things, in that what about the things inbetween being born and dying? Shouldn't you put some effort into actually living? what external costs are borne because of absent parents? Both my parents worked but they were always there to walk me to school and also to have dinner with me then back to work. I think I came out of it alright, but does everybody manage to do that? What is the social cost to all of this.

Again if we destroy families and future who will buy those products in the future?

GSK creates 1000 jobs....?

GSK creates 1000 jobs

Erm

GSK cut 3000 jobs

A net loss of 2000 jobs then,

Golden goose?

Have a read through some of Hansard HMRC is winding up companies to get its pound of flesh its money NOW, even though other creditors are happy to wait for their bills to be settled.

I'm sorry but isn't this rather stupid and short sighted? , most of us would have heard of the fable the Golden Goose, in that the owners end up killing it from their greed and end up losing the golden goose.

Isn't HMRC doing the same thing? Yes HMRC gets its hands on money but what about next year and the year after that and till eternity? Oops erm we've just killed the business. I know lets kill another one.

Makes no sense at all to me, although I hate this phrase, better to have something than nothing (as it is one of those hobsons situations whereby you are forced to settle for something). In this case it is better for the government to get something than nothing.

Yes they are killing their hens'. Although they get a veritable feast of chicken meat now, they will no longer have eggs and once the chicken meat runs out then what?

Putting things into words

In my current state I've got lots of time, I spend much of this time reading, I stumbled upon this book by Douglas Coupland (and I can throughly recommend all of his other books except Life after god). In that it strikes a chord as to how many people feel about what progress humans have made and what appears to be wrong with the world. It is not to everybody's taste however as you may notice on amazon it has about an even number of bad reviews as it has good reviews. But then for the 1p you can buy it for it might be worth a look.


For those of you who can't be bothered, essentially it boils down to this:

In that society seemed to have improved in various ways but has regressed in many others, in that productivity rules absolute and time for anything else does not exist which reflects the things I state on here. Although this was written in the mid 1990s, there is a sting to the tale here in that this novel never predicts that no matter how much productivity people have it is never enough and jobs get outsourced regardless.

The by-product of globalisation is a heavily redundant work force swaths of what was previously needed are needed no more, forever more.

In order to support these poor souls, additional services are deemed required from up top. Also (in some perverse speculate to accumulate mentality) Labour has used this pool of surplus labour to massively increase the public sector in pointless and wasteful ways

A statistic in the accountancy industry I recall when told in 2007 was that in 1997 it used to take 2 people to inspect and clear a tax return form. In 2007 it takes 7 people to do the same job. I do not know how many it takes today as I am completely out of the accountancy loop.

I guess the reasoning being that they are scared of having so many people in certain areas on the dole doing absolutely nothing. For two reasons in that unemployed people spend less, they have less and thus spend less. This leads to a negative feed back loop of sorts.

Secondly large numbers of unemployed people can be dangerous, Sun Tzu wrote 2000 years ago that it was dangerous to corner your enemy, as he will fight harder. The modern variation is a wounded animal cornered, in that they don’t realise it as they are distracted by bread and circuses but such people hold an incredible amount of power. In that violence makes people sit up and take notice, which is why we have so much bread and circuses. I’m not inciting violence or anything but even if the violent side lose things change.

In 1989 the PRC government sent in infantry and tank support to crush the protestors, in the micro short term it worked, control was wrestled back to the government martial law was declared. A sea of blood occurred the protestors seemingly killed and injured in very large numbers seemed to have lost. Except that they didn’t in that in 1990 the PRC government suddenly changed and made a lurch for the capitalist right. Although this does serve as bread and circuses again, the quality of life has increased for many people in China. So they did effect change after all..



As far as the government are concerned, the only thing worse then someone not contributing tax, is a person not consuming/spending in the economy (pity they didn't think about this when they allowed our industries to die instead of investing in them). Hence the massive spending in public service employment, not that many people in some areas have a choice anyway.


Is this wrong and cruel in the long term? Probably yes. Their wages/pensions etc are indeed insulated from the global market conditions, which is the real reason behind the wage disparity compared to the private sector. However, not only are their jobs in the future dependent on their so-called market need, but political whim. But what is the solution? I’m unsure the 1930s depression was ended with a huge war which destroyed excess industrial capacity, men in large numbers etc.

What will be the cure for this time? What am I essentially saying? I think there needs to be some sort of change REAL change not pretend change.

A picture tells 1000 words

See above, in effect graduate unemployment is even worse than we expected end of last year 40%+. These do not show up in the stats! as there has been a flight back to education. In that grads who cannot get work decide to go back into education instead. Anybody on JSA knows that if you do more than 15 hours a week you are not unemployed and therefore you fall out of the unemployment stats.

It's subtle but; (unemployment amongst those in education) + (those who are unemployed and not in education) should remain stable but it isn't. So those who are unemployed
are staying and joining education which lowers the figures.

You can see the flight to education , much more than previous recessions due to the lack of jobs. Adding in the move to part time work the Government should be seeing very low takes for
tax compared to what they are spending on tax credits and benefits.

However will it work?, in that these grads who go on for extra schooling will still leave with no experience and unfortunately it may give them a huge sense of entitlement. For the record when I graduated I had a sense of entitlement in that I'd worked at the same time as my studies and I thought now is the time for my reward.

Unfortunately I was wrong and after noticing <50 well paid graduate schemes for the entire country with everybody else at NMW or even less than that remember I started my graduate career on £5500 (only a bit more than I used to get working at Mc'ds in 1996 @ £2.15 an hour. Which dashed my optimism markedly.

The continuation thread.

Propaganda poster of the steel production objective. The text reads: "Take steel as the key link, leap forward in all fields".

Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of economic development

Since we no longer make steel, are we still a key economic player? , can we really be taken seriously anymore?.

Corus Steel plant mothballed 1600 jobs gone.

I'm sorry but mothballed?, that's just a euphemism for closure isn't it?.

I'd bet that post election it will be announced that it is closed.

What the hell do we make in this country anymore?.


Link

Resolved!

In a forum I frequent somebody told me of the apprenticeship scam, it is a variation of the new deal scam.

For the new deal 50% of your pay is paid by the government, 50% by the employer, this means uber cheap employees, the crick is that if you perform well the person is kept on. The employer gets some sort of bonus for simply taking them on, what happens though is at the end of the year the person is let go, the positon vacant for a few weeks then another New Deal person is hired the employer gets cheap staff, a bonus etc the cycle continues. Although the person who did it has a years worth of work experience and reference to hand, although the usefulness of this is questionable as if you can hire somebody for 50% of the cost and get a bonus why hire somebody you need to pay fully?.

The scam is this:

Is it a scam however, [edited]or whatever, is taking on 55 at £100 a week, suspicious i'd say. I've just been offered the chance to take on a plumbing apprentice, government scheme, £1500 for me on accepting the youngster, a further £1000 for me after 12 weeks of employing the apprentice. If i pay £100 a week, and sack him at week 13, id be £1200 in pocket.

So there you have it, it effectively means it IS a scam, with 12 weeks work experience it also makes your CV look bad, as it looks as if you can't hack it even if you were a perfectly capable employee. This also says bigger things in that the National minimum wage doesn't actually exist in this country as there are methods to get round it. If people find it hard to make ends meet on NMW then how on earth are people going to get by on apprenticeship wages? of £2.71 a year.

In that yes government top ups are available but doesn't this mean tax payers are subsidising the wages of the low paid? , doesn't this distort and encourage wage fraud?.

In that two businesses A + B , if A hired somebody playing cricket on NMW ,and B hired somebody on an fake apprenticeship then surely B has a slight advantage. This advantage of which he can pass to his clients or take a bigger profit and reinvest, A is at a disadvantage so either continues as normal or plays the same game.

In the end the employees lose out, and again we have the Henry Ford problem, if nobody can afford your goods and services you'll go out of biz.

Oddly enough recessions encourage this in that if something is cheaper for the same thing people will buy it as it stretches their money further. However somebody else pays for the savings you make and longer term everybody pays. Those cheap £5 jeans you see in some supermarket? , somebody in China has taken the job of a British person for that.

I'm not saying British jobs for British people just a moment of consideration as to why things are the way that they are right now.

Revenge of the apprenticeship

As above they expect you to know everything already before starting, so how on earth is this an apprenticeship?

But it clearly isn't an apprenticeship, it's just a way of getting a position filled on the cheap.

Copy and pasted from the apprentices website:

All apprenticeships should conform to the following:

• An appropriate work-based qualification such as a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at either Level 2 or Level 3;
• Key Skills qualifications, e.g. working in teams, problem-solving, communication and using new technology;
• A technical qualification such as a BTEC or City & Guilds (relevant to the specific Apprenticeship);
• Other qualifications or requirements as specified by the particular occupation.

Which this so called apprenticeship does not offer. It's a full-time job, there is no qualification being worked towards. The person that meets their specification already knows the job so in what sense are they serving an apprenticeship? It's just cynical exploitation.

Mind and boggles are thoughts which come to mind

More joke jobs

NMW or just above, in LONDON too, do they realise how expensive it is to live in London? on the £200 or so a week thats £800 GROSS before tax or £700 rents in London are close to £500 a month, leaving £200 to cover council tax, bills and food.

Before anybody says it commuting isn't exactly an option either with £1000 for a train ticket into London, this is ontop of rent costs as well. Admittedly if say somebody were living at home with their parents this MIGHT be worthy. However with great numbers of unemployed who have experience, the starter out junior type won't even get a look in.

Unemployment UP, no Down!

Who to believe?

The BBC or Bloomberg


BBC says:

The number of people unemployed in the UK has fallen slightly, figures show.

Total unemployment stood at 2.46 million for the three months to December, down 3,000 on the figure for the previous three months.

Bloomberg says:

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. unemployment unexpectedly jumped in January to the highest level since Tony Blair led the ruling Labour Party to power almost 13 years ago as the recession destroyed work at businesses from carmakers to banks.

Claims for jobless benefits rose by 23,500 from the previous month to 1.64 million, the highest since April 1997, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 27 economists was for a drop of 10,000.

Having a look outside and the jobs websites I am more inclined to believe Bloomberg tbh

Yahoo says the same thing as Bloomberg.

So does Reuters news

young fear years of unemployment

Here

As they set out to find work, only half of young people feel their education has prepared them well for the jobs market, survey shows.


I think I know how they feel in that when I first graduated it took me 5 months to find my first role, it was poorly paid, I was exploited but in the end it was a huge relief, I wonder how the current generation feel in that I'm not sure that they will be so lucky. In that once you get over a certain threshold morale vanishes and those shiny certificates of your work lose their gleam to the graduates and potential applicants who graduated after you.

More job losses (public sector)

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says that unemployment rates will increase sharply as the public sector feels the impact of cost-cutting. Dole queues will increase to 2.8 million in the second half of the year, a rise of up to 50,000 a month.

The CIPD found that those employers who intended to make redundancies were planning to axe 6.2 per cent of their workforce in the first three months of 2010 link is here

This is somewhat interlinked with my last posts in that in the presence of too many graduates the government has been filling the holes in the system with public sector jobs, it has to in that otherwise the unemployment would be even worse. In that private companies don't care about unemployment and joblessness is sometimes beneficial to them in that it lowers their costs. There are so many desparate individuals out there people will work for a pittance or even illegally for those unpaid internships I mentioned a while ago.

The cuts are needed to balance the books, question is if the private sector is shedding jobs as it did before, and the public sector is shedding jobs. AND just to kick us while we are down more outsourcing is planned then it seems that nobody will be hiring. That people will be stuck between a rock and a hard place, sorry to cliche but thats exactly their circumstances.

Oddly enough this may lead to a bigger tranche of officially unemployed in that one statistic that is not being mentioned here is that 1 job loss may equal 2 signing on. How many in the public sector who are about to lose there jobs currently have an out of work partner who isn't on the unemployment figures?

Interesting times (as in the Chinese curse) appear to lay ahead...

Why I am seriously considering leaving accountancy

There has been a trend I can't find the link for about graduates working in non related professions to their degrees.

I did a BA accountancy a long time ago, or at least it feels a long time ago. In that many people ask why are you thinking of leaving accountancy?. It is a good career path, this confuses my parents when they visit my flat now and again to bring me a parcel of food or something. (I have a terrible diet of Ramen I think it is trading money for health but hey at 9p per meal it is unbeatable for calorific value). In that my parents are stuck in old thinking, they never considered the aspects of globalisation and thus outsourcing.


Ironically to an accountant or ex accountant (I repent) it makes an awful lot of sense to me. It is from the training which conflicts with my own values system. Although oddly enough I do still apply for jobs here not that this has done me much good lately.

Accounting/back office financial work makes a lot more sense to outsource to me. In a way I'm surprised it took this long to get going.. but it could really turn into an avalanche of job outsourcing over the next few years.

Many of these companies have thousands upon thousands of people doing reconciliations, payroll, routine accounting work, and all sorts of accounting type positions. Go to any city in Britain and there is office building after office building full of people doing these types of things.

Its all done on computer nowadays so it doesn't make much difference if it is done in Manchester or Hyderabad. The difference is in Hyderabad you can get a very bright hard working person who is thrilled to work for £1 an hour.



Though there is another deeper reason other than outsourcing, that is the ethic of accounting companies, in that I was exploited heavily during my training, non moving wages costs of everything going up meant I was getting year on year pay cuts. The crick is this in that once you qualify you setup on your own and then it is YOUR turn to exploit the juniors and PQs. (part qualified)

Hold on there a second if I didn't like being treated badly and had to live like a bum for years till I got the ACCA letters after my name. Then quite simply why would I want others to be treated the same way?.

On top of this you may stand and attempt to buck the trend, except that other firms with lower morals and ethics do go on and exploit juniors and PQs, and can therefore lower their prices on the savings. My experience in accountancy was that you shift the price up even a little bit and clients leave.

I think this is indicative of a greater ennui in the UK as a whole as we only seem to care about the bottom line.

Cadbury's closes are we shocked no, the UK's industries are bought up jobs are gone but do we care? not much, as long as we get some kind of bargain to hell with the long term consequences. This was shown when Woolworths folded, in that people who went to the closing down sales complained it wasn't cheap enough.

Where have all the jobs gone pt3

Productivity gains since 1900, when everything was horse or steam driven, have been enormous.

If we produce the same with 20% of the labour then we could have a similar lifestyle by cutting our hours 80%.

A single farmer produces food for hundreds even thousands even tens of thousans, gone of the days of labour intensive farming where hundreds of people worked the land with hand tools, like in the second world war land girls etc.

This process will no doubt continue and perhaps accelerate, as I have mentioned before in older posts I once worked as a mid level tax expert, my job was replaced by a line of code.

There may be a job for the person that programs the robots or writes the lines of software though this is self defeating in that the other workers have no jobs and no income, without jobs and without income what are they going to use to buy the increased productivity gains?.

A large part of the productivity gains has gone to increase the number who in some manner do not work. In effect we society has said that their labour is not needed so they live on alternative means, these might include pensions, income support, disability benefits this is not an exhaustive list however .

A tendancy of the 1990s and 2000s has been that governments around the world have sought to increase the school leaving age or university placements. Whearas in the 1970s and 1980s 2-6% of people would go to university today (2009/2010) this figure is closer to 40% . But this is fallacy in that if there are no jobs for them then what is the use. Infact if you think about it a little deeper it is worse. In that young people are fooled into thinking university and education is the way to a brigher future.

Yet more has gone into make work position in the public sector. When we can produce all the goods that society needs with just 10% of the labour force then this will become clearer. Those few left in work will pay out 90% of their wages in taxes. It must be this way to enable the unemployed 90% to continue to buy their output.


The olde' meme of well of work and study hard and rewards may come, this sounds nice doesn't it. Unfortunately the disconnect with hard work and reward has been broken.

I am sure many of you have a basic understanding of psychology in that we encourage good behaviour by positive reinforcement , the inferior method considered by Skinner is negative reinforcement, this is not punishment as is oft mistaken for. Negative is the removal of something unpleasant.

Hence you work hard and get the money right?

Wrong, in that this disconnect has been broken, you can work hard as you want yet if you aren't lucky you won't progress anywhere. Luck might be synominous with ruthlessness as well by the way.

This has led to me thinking that people aren't being silly when they simply refuse to work and instead stay on benefits. In that this is their only legtimate manner in which they can protest. In that why fight a system that is so corrupt and twisted that the serfs are kept in their place?.In that today internships and apprenticeships are becoming more and more common, as a whole generation is willing to fight itself to work for free and undercut each other. I myself did this to others I worked for £5500 PA for 6 months about 4 or 5 years ago, did we do this to ourselves?.

Yet right wingers, boomers etc stifle this debate by just shouting at them as workshy or scoungers, you can see a certain logic as to why people don't play such a rigged game. Many people do not gamble at casinos as they know it is inherently rigged in favor of the house, many people simply choose not to work as the whole game is rigged infavor of others.

Another blog

This is a rather lonely (when I say that I mean the number of followers is rather low compared to some blogsites which have hundreds of followers, I class this website as lonely too) website about a recent graduate.

I'm finding it hard as a graduate WITH experience years of it, it is a fascinating insight as to the quandry of graduates today and this person has an MA which in theory stands head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. Though theory and reality are two completely different things I suppose.

The link is here

Even window cleaning jobs are not safe

As an extension of the previous post about manual work being replaced by robots, here is another (depressing) example of it.

Window cleaning is now done by robots and will be done in the future again the same problems occur.




To those who champion automation, bigger profits, or people having more time to pursue meaningful tasks and creative tasks. I say nay, this may make me a luddite


But this dream was sold to our parents in different guises, in the 1960s and 1970s massive amounts of Indian labour was imported so that the local man could pursue more meaningful work. This never happened productivity did increase this along with quality of life, but the locals were pushed out of jobs.

In northern towns today there are nasty racial tensions regarding this.


In the past also it was postulated that the aspects of automation would mean that few people would have to work. This work would be in food and energy production as well as maintenance the rest of the population could sit back and live in a star trek world where people could spend their time in self-improvement. This future never happened. Instead the extra productivity was used to both push down wages and the owners of such factories scooped the profits up.

This is why I see rather dark times ahead for our societies; it actually reflects a few disturbing sci fi novels I’ve read in my time. Where millions of people pick through the rubbish of abandoned cities looking for something to eat or to sell.

Where have all the jobs gone?

A robot has replaced the workers or several robots, so when Humans are not cheap enough employ a robot. It is understandable as robots work quickly never get tired or complain. @ £5.80 an hour a decision has been made that humans are too expensive and thus a robot has been invested in.

Although there is ancillary work say the maintenance and programming of such robots the amount of human labour reduced in the process is stunning. The above factory example has almost zero human input once the button is pressed to go.

But herein lies the problem and that of total capitalism, in that if everybody's jobs are replaced by machines then who will be left with jobs to buy the goods?. Nobody thats who...

Henry Ford's revolution was based not on assembly lines for efficiency although this was markedly important. Instead his revolution was based on paying high wages, high wages motivate the staff. Also high wages mean that the staff have money to buy the products and services that Ford produced therefore forming a virtuous circle.

You work for money, you have money you buy.

Today a Robot does your job, you are on your £61 welfare cheque a week who is going to buy the products of the company producing things?....

job centre website is back

Sort of, in that digging through a few links the header page is back unfortunately it still links to the government portal website which again is frustrating and makes you jump through hoops that the old website never used to make you do.

Companies wound up apocalypse

This list is taken from here , for ONE Feb 10th 2010 day there seem to be one hell of a number of court hearings for companies being wound up.

I would note a company may well be would up voluntarily if they have been declining in profits for quite sometime. i have witnessed this happen more than a few times in my accountancy career. But 235 companies in one day (the year next to the company name or ex company is the year that the company formed). It just seems whats the word apocalyptic in that all these firms will lose employees as directors, company secretaries etc are all employees of these companies. Granted I realise that a person can have many limited companies and therefore the below could be less than 235 people considerably less. It is just that it really doesn't look good does it?.

1. 7661 /2007 Public Private Associates Limited
2. 14388 /2009 Steve's Car Hire Limited
3. 15181 /2009 Trustbuild (Northern) Ltd
4. 15713 /2009 Liaison Restaurant
5. 16131 /2009 Hinckley United Football Club Limited
6. 16365 /2009 Vincent Doherty & Co
7. 17293 /2009 Gruppem Investments PLC
8. 17342 /2009 Glaisdale Storage Limited
9. 17351 /2009 A & C Pumps (Sales) Limited
10. 17420 /2009 The Gourmet Mushroom Company Limited
11. 17445 /2009 Arcadiam Associates Limited
12. 17628 /2009 Propinvest 3 Limited
13. 17629 /2009 Propinvest 2 Limited
14. 17803 /2009 PTC Communications & Security Limited
15. 17923 /2009 Trident Accountancy Limited
16. 18099 /2009 Turners of Lancashire Limited
17. 18541 /2009 Aspland Limited
18. 18581 /2009 Micromedia UK Limited
19. 18753 /2009 Raphael Executive Cars Limited
20. 18824 /2009 Fullflow Group Limited
21. 18996 /2009 Fisher Productions Limited
22. 19085 /2009 Par Precision and Production Engineering
23. 19219 /2009 Millenium Hardwood Ltd
24. 19569 /2009 Bigbury Bay Inns Limited
25. 19584 /2009 Alics Limited
26. 20137 /2009 Brooker Brothers Limited
27. 20148 /2009 Charlotte Homes (Surrey) Limited
28. 20149 /2009 Tower Archival & Facility Services Ltd
29. 20160 /2009 Comcarenet AMS Ltd
30. 20163 /2009 Storm Land & Estates Limited
31. 20202 /2009 House of Cards Limited
32. 20225 /2009 Gary Bayley Limited
33. 20233 /2009 Lambs Support Services Limited
34. 20238 /2009 Well Groomed Laundry Services Limited
35. 20249 /2009 J2 Security
36. 20276 /2009 Azur Distribution Limited
37. 20278 /2009 Sunrise Express Ltd
38. 20291 /2009 St. John Spencer Estates & Developments Limited
39. 20302 /2009 E.M. Capital Ltd
40. 20316 /2009 Poptops Limited
41. 20362 /2009 Associate Interiors (Projects) Limited
42. 20398 /2009 Procom I.T. Solutions Limited
43. 20467 /2009 BLV Realty Group II Ltd
44. 20514 /2009 Jass Properties Limited
45. 20550 /2009 Pest Control Solutions Ltd
46. 20558 /2009 Alpha Bearing Limited
47. 20564 /2009 Woodsetton Steels Limited
48. 20592 /2009 Drinks Inn Restaurant Limited
49. 20607 /2009 Penshaw Estates Limited
50. 20619 /2009 Noah's Workshop Limited
51. 20638 /2009 Festive Impact Lighting Limited
52. 20648 /2009 L. Longford Limited
53. 20729 /2009 Hesse Developments Limited
54. 20740 /2009 Thom Engineering Limited
55. 20745 /2009 Caged Manufacturing Limited
56. 20752 /2009 DRI Events Ltd
57. 20791 /2009 Intelligent Property Purchase Limited
58. 21011 /2009 Graphic Industry Credit Information Ltd
59. 21154 /2009 Totem Event Limited
60. 21190 /2009 Acorn Energy Limited
61. 21212 /2009 Bicol Servicing Company Limited
62. 21311 /2009 H & C Construction & Development Limited
63. 21347 /2009 Feathers On Ltd
64. 21388 /2009 Etech Group Europe Limited
65. 21428 /2009 1 Cheyne Walk Residents Association Limited
66. 21441 /2009 Taylor M.E. Limited
67. 21493 /2009 Velvet Art Limited
68. 21533 /2009 Rapid Response
69. 21534 /2009 Ash Vale Ranges
70. 21691 /2009 The Lion Hotel & The Royal Hotel
71. 21837 /2009 Euro Vision Services LTD
72. 21853 /2009 S G S Landscapes And Forestry
73. 21868 /2009 City Properties United (UK) Limited
74. 21876 /2009 The Brighton Football Club (R.F.U.) Limited
75. 21877 /2009 Scott's Group Limited
76. 21879 /2009 Nightingale Grange Care Home Limited
77. 21880 /2009 DJB Building Ltd
78. 21881 /2009 Allfloors4less Limited
79. 21882 /2009 Breckland Tiles Limited
80. 21885 /2009 Stewart Macdonald Ltd
81. 21886 /2009 Sunny Construction Limited
82. 21889 /2009 Passion Nights Limited
83. 21890 /2009 Attain Developments Limited
84. Not before 11:00 am
85. 21893 /2009 Baron Solutions Limited
86. 21898 /2009 Chorlton Joinery (UK) Limited
87. 21900 /2009 Truelink Management Limited
88. 21904 /2009 Scorpion Racing (UK) Limited
89. 21906 /2009 Astoria Accociates Limited
90. 21907 /2009 McNamara Building Services Limited
91. 21909 /2009 Gold 12 General Partner Limited
92. 21915 /2009 Gold 12 Property Plus LP
93. 21923 /2009 GCI Banking Ltd
94. 21930 /2009 SAI International Limited
95. 21934 /2009 The Exchange Bar Company Limited
96. 21935 /2009 Dal Utilities Limited
97. 21936 /2009 Linmar Scaffolding Limited
98. 21937 /2009 DBM Electrical, Plumbing & Heating Ltd
99. 21938 /2009 Architects Corporation Limited
100. 21939 /2009 BLV Realty Organization Limited
101. 21940 /2009 Bridgen (Ten) Limited
102. 21941 /2009 Corries International Limited
103. 21954 /2009 Hammel (UK) Limited
104. 21957 /2009 Start Bristol Limited
105. 21958 /2009 Borough of London Decorators Limited
106. 21959 /2009 Smart and Kleen Limited
107. 21963 /2009 Site Matters Limited
108. 21964 /2009 Tudol International Limited
109. 21965 /2009 Green Structural Ltd
110. 21966 /2009 Pleasant Homes Limited
111. 21968 /2009 Ultimate Investments Limited
112. 21969 /2009 Paul Anthony Scully & Desmond Daniel Moore - T/A Scully & Scully
113. 21979 /2009 Fernwave Ireland Limited
114. 21985 /2009 Gone To Hell Limited
115. 21993 /2009 Fencrest Enterprises Limited
116. 22000 /2009 Minorplanet Limited
117. 22003 /2009 Abseiling Property Maintenance Limited
118. 22005 /2009 Advanced Guards (UK) Limited
119. 22006 /2009 Windows Are Us Ltd
120. 22007 /2009 The Ferry Inn (Stratford) Limited
121. 22008 /2009 Goldmoor Enterprises Limited
122. 22011 /2009 Thornton Electrical (Bristol) Limited
123. 22013 /2009 Multitrax UK Limited
124. 22014 /2009 Maidstone Marquee Hire Co. Limited
125. 22016 /2009 Call Performance Limited
126. 22018 /2009 Globalscs Limited
127. 22022 /2009 AJB Scaffolding Limited
128. 22023 /2009 Saverstones Cash & Carry Limited
129. 22024 /2009 Altair Technologies Limited
130. 22025 /2009 Flow Rod Limited
131. 22026 /2009 Acme Facilities Management (Edinburgh) Limited
132. 22027 /2009 Pioneer Freight Futures Company Limited
133. 22032 /2009 Tigercom Limited
134. 22033 /2009 Comprehensive Electrical Solutions Limited
135. 22034 /2009 Adtech Services (UK) Ltd
136. 22035 /2009 Davenport Control & Instrumentation Limited
137. 22036 /2009 Excel Imports & Exports Limited
138. 22037 /2009 M.B.W. (Heathrow) Limited
139. 22038 /2009 Smooth Limited
140. 22039 /2009 Amy International Artists Limited
141. 22047 /2009 Fast Moving Signage Company Limited
142. 22052 /2009 D & R Drylining Limited
143. 22054 /2009 R & D Machinery Limited
144. 22057 /2009 Motor Sport Developments Limited
145. 22060 /2009 Clarke Development Corporation Limited
146. 22061 /2009 D & D Retail Limited
147. 22063 /2009 Floorz Hardwood Flooring Limited
148. 22065 /2009 Leeks (DIY) Limited
149. 22066 /2009 M.E. Hamilton Limited
150. 22067 /2009 Earlswood Court Ltd
151. 22069 /2009 J H Driving Services Limited
152. 22073 /2009 La Bodega Lounge Bar Limited
153. 22074 /2009 Corporate Vending Systems Limited
154. 22077 /2009 1st Scaffolding (South West) Limited
155. 22078 /2009 Forge Plant Limited
156. 22081 /2009 Braylex Limited
157. 22084 /2009 Authenti-C8 Ltd
158. 22085 /2009 Provident Capital Limited
159. 22087 /2009 Villa Neumann Limited
160. 22088 /2009 UK Project Services Limited
161. 22089 /2009 Sealed Units (UK) Limited
162. 22092 /2009 Mike Duxbury Associates Ltd
163. 22093 /2009 Covenant Family Assets Company Limited
164. 22094 /2009 Creative Education (Interim) Limited
165. Not before 11:30 am
166. 22097 /2009 FM2 Limited
167. 22098 /2009 Connaught Artists Management Ltd
168. 22101 /2009 MJS Cleaning Contractors Limited
169. 22104 /2009 C & D Property Investments Limited
170. 22105 /2009 Access Capital Limited
171. 22106 /2009 Taylor Construction (Bath) Limited
172. 22108 /2009 Gredan Limited
173. 22109 /2009 Essex Beer Limited
174. 22110 /2009 Deneside Catholic Social Club Limited
175. 22111 /2009 Lanman Asset Management Ltd
176. 22115 /2009 Premier Plastering Contractors Ltd
177. 22116 /2009 K.O.L UK Limited
178. 22117 /2009 Steve Vincent Builders Limited
179. 22123 /2009 Roseberry Yarmouth Limited
180. 22133 /2009 The Bell Inn (Yarpole) Limited
181. 22137 /2009 Datacomms Europe Limited
182. 22139 /2009 Univest Corporation Limited
183. 22142 /2009 Riverside Developments (Leicester) Limited
184. 22146 /2009 F10 Limited
185. 22148 /2009 World Class Stallions Limited
186. 22149 /2009 Huguentos Catering Services Ltd
187. 22150 /2009 Alzheimer's UK Research Education and Care Limited
188. 22155 /2009 M.J. O'Connor (Bristol) Limited
189. 22157 /2009 Shaheen Knitwear Limited
190. 22160 /2009 Barrack Homes (UK) Limited
191. 22161 /2009 Roe Brickwork Limited
192. 22166 /2009 Tawe Coachbuilders Limited
193. 22170 /2009 Primary Colours London Limited
194. 22172 /2009 Harley Dental Clinics (Folkstone) Limited
195. 22177 /2009 LGW Engineering Limited
196. 22179 /2009 Smith Lance Larcade & Bechtol Architects Limited
197. 22180 /2009 Portsmouth City Football Club Limited
198. 313 /2010 Portsmouth City Football Club Limited
199. 22181 /2009 Southend United Football Club Limited (The)
200. 22182 /2009 Cardiff City Football Club Limited
201. 22184 /2009 Mr. Yunus Patel and Mrs. Zebun Patel
202. 22196 /2009 Anderson & Co Solicitors
203. 22197 /2009 Stonework Imports Limited
204. 22198 /2009 A1 Holdings Limited
205. 22209 /2009 Ruby M's Limited
206. 22210 /2009 A H Racing Limited
207. 22212 /2009 Shimlas Limited
208. 22213 /2009 Deepcar Concrete Limited
209. 22214 /2009 Petrarch Holdings Limited
210. 22215 /2009 Ivor Street Limited
211. 22216 /2009 Redworth Construction Limited
212. 22217 /2009 True Blue (Brighton Road) Developments Limited
213. 22218 /2009 Richard Mander Developments Limited
214. 22222 /2009 Myring & Heward Limited
215. 22224 /2009 Wellcare (Eversleigh) Limited
216. 22228 /2009 Blackburn Electrical Supplies Ltd
217. 22230 /2009 Solar Security Limited
218. 22231 /2009 Trinity Insurance Company Limited
219. 22232 /2009 Quality Pipe Solutions Limited
220. 22233 /2009 Hopeside Hotel
221. 22234 /2009 Gear Cut (UK) Limited
222. 22235 /2009 Candelabra Limited
223. 22236 /2009 Dennis Richard Robin Powell & Mrs Susan Ann Powell T/A Guardian Window Cleaning Services
224. 22237 /2009 UKHD Investments Limited
225. 22238 /2009 American Lawyer Media International Limited
226. 22239 /2009 Zeki Productions Limited
227. 22240 /2009 Bellview Airlines Limited
228. 22241 /2009 Impact Applications Limited
229. 22245 /2009 E.B Services Limited
230. 22248 /2009 Citytex (U.K.) Limited
231. 22252 /2009 Davis & Co (Solicitors) Limited
232. 22254 /2009 The Chequers Pub
233. 22258 /2009 Vincent Shoe Store Limited
234. 22259 /2009 Averhill Partnership Limited
235. 98 /2010 RJ's Leisure Ltd

I have a look at February 9th 2010 and the list yesterday was just as long sme thing for the 8th and so on. Not including weekends 2x52 thats annualised figure of 61335 companies going under or being wound up. All of a sudden it feels an awful lot worse out there.

The most depressing thing is

The most depressing thing is about all this is the feeling of helplessness, next to this is probably the fact that people who are under or unemployed suffer a feeling of confirmation bias. In that being unemployed is a depressing experience motivation can only last so long before it starts to crumble horribly.

In that you may spend half an hour an hour perhaps longer adjusting your CV, then typing out and spell checking then either emailing it to sending it via post to the supposed employer. That is IF the job exists in the first place, when quite often it does not (agencies are particularly guilty of this).

In that you spend all that time applying for the job doing all of the above. However the potential employer can’t take the time out to send a simple no email back. Granted there are two problems with this in that if it is a postal application then it would require them to post something back. Although many people will attach email addresses to their CVs and covering letters as a method of being in touch in more ways than one.

Also that there may well be a huge number of applicants to the job meaning replying simply isn’t feasible as they have other things to be doing.

Such as money making activities. 3 Workplaces ago I remember Trevor who worked in payroll for both the company itself and for a stack of clients. He also did the HR work filtering the work applications for potential new hires.

However here is where the confirmation bias comes in, in that people are already low in morale and not being worth a few seconds of somebody’s time confirms that they are unwanted or un-needed leading to a greater loss of morale and makes it harder to motivate and apply for jobs in the first place.

Way back in 2004 I remember one of the firms I applied for, he took the time to write back to me stating that there were no vacancies and he was very sorry. He did however write some advice for me and give me some hints. I put those into action and got my very first accounting job (the pay cheque a photocopy is on my wall to this day). This encouraged me and made me feel better, I wonder what employers have to gain from lower morale?.

This is of course not inclusive of several nasty return letters I received more than once from potential employers. One particular one from Stockport sent back a lengthy reply giving a sentence by sentence point by point of my CV and covering letter knocking each and every point. She had nothing positive to say and seemed to revel in great delight at belittling me.

So I suppose not getting replies sometimes is a good thing.

Bleak day as 1,600 UK job losses announced

Bleak day as 1,600 UK job losses announced


The UK employment industry took a knock today, with the announcement that over 1,600 jobs would be lost across the drugs, water, car and chocolate sectors. 
The biggest cuts hit a Cadbury factory in Somerdale, Somerset, which is to close with the loss of 400 jobs despite hopes that new owners Kraft would save it. 
Cadbury announced in 2007 that it planned to close Somerdale and transfer work to Poland with the loss of 500 jobs.

Around 100 workers have been made redundant but Kraft's ownership had offered hope that the remaining jobs could be saved.

However, those hopes were dashed when the US firm said it was "unrealistic" to reverse Cadbury's plans to shut the site and announced the factory would close by 2011.
Kraft, whose five-month battle for control of the confectioner was sealed earlier this month, had pledged to retain the plant.

But today it said Cadbury had already spent £100 million on building new facilities in Poland and most production would be transferred by the middle of this year.

Unite's national officer Jennie Formby, said: "It is with great anger that we heard today's announcement by Kraft that the Somerdale closure will go ahead as planned.

"Anger that Kraft deliberately misled many hundreds of decent men and women in Keynsham by saying that they would keep Somerdale open, despite Unite making very clear to them as early as September that this seemed impossible with the timeline for closure already seemingly set in stone.

"Anger that their thirst for public approval during the most unpopular takeover we've seen in recent times drove Kraft to ignore those warnings and instead choose to state repeatedly that the site would not close.

"This sends the worst possible message to the 6,000 other Cadbury workers in the UK and Ireland. It tells them that Kraft care little for their workers and have contempt for the trade union that represents them”.
Meanwhile, car giant Vauxhall said it would shed 154 administrative jobs in the UK on top of previously announced cuts of 369 at its Luton factory, which builds vans.

Welsh Water, which provides water and sanitation services to 1.2 million households in Wales and parts of England, said it would axe 300 jobs during the next five years in an attempt to reduce costs.
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline announced plans to cut up to a third of jobs at its UK research and development site in Harlow, Essex, raising the threat of up to 380 job losses.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said of the job cuts announced today: "These job losses show the economy is still on the knife edge. City bonuses may be back and the economy is technically growing once again, but the downturn is far from over for the millions struggling to find work, forced to take work well below their capabilities or who fear for their jobs.

"The Government must resist calls to take the knife to public spending - which would cause further job losses and give us a double-dip recession."

Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB, said: "It is going to be a long, hard slog before the economy recovers and employment starts growing again.

"These job losses underline the need to keep the public sector buoyant until the economy is properly recovered”.