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?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
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?
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.
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.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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?.
Friday, February 19, 2010
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
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?.
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.
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.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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 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
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, February 15, 2010
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...
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...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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
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.
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?....
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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?.
- 7661 /2007 Public Private Associates Limited
- 14388 /2009 Steve's Car Hire Limited
- 15181 /2009 Trustbuild (Northern) Ltd
- 15713 /2009 Liaison Restaurant
- 16131 /2009 Hinckley United Football Club Limited
- 16365 /2009 Vincent Doherty & Co
- 17293 /2009 Gruppem Investments PLC
- 17342 /2009 Glaisdale Storage Limited
- 17351 /2009 A & C Pumps (Sales) Limited
- 17420 /2009 The Gourmet Mushroom Company Limited
- 17445 /2009 Arcadiam Associates Limited
- 17628 /2009 Propinvest 3 Limited
- 17629 /2009 Propinvest 2 Limited
- 17803 /2009 PTC Communications & Security Limited
- 17923 /2009 Trident Accountancy Limited
- 18099 /2009 Turners of Lancashire Limited
- 18541 /2009 Aspland Limited
- 18581 /2009 Micromedia UK Limited
- 18753 /2009 Raphael Executive Cars Limited
- 18824 /2009 Fullflow Group Limited
- 18996 /2009 Fisher Productions Limited
- 19085 /2009 Par Precision and Production Engineering
- 19219 /2009 Millenium Hardwood Ltd
- 19569 /2009 Bigbury Bay Inns Limited
- 19584 /2009 Alics Limited
- 20137 /2009 Brooker Brothers Limited
- 20148 /2009 Charlotte Homes (Surrey) Limited
- 20149 /2009 Tower Archival & Facility Services Ltd
- 20160 /2009 Comcarenet AMS Ltd
- 20163 /2009 Storm Land & Estates Limited
- 20202 /2009 House of Cards Limited
- 20225 /2009 Gary Bayley Limited
- 20233 /2009 Lambs Support Services Limited
- 20238 /2009 Well Groomed Laundry Services Limited
- 20249 /2009 J2 Security
- 20276 /2009 Azur Distribution Limited
- 20278 /2009 Sunrise Express Ltd
- 20291 /2009 St. John Spencer Estates & Developments Limited
- 20302 /2009 E.M. Capital Ltd
- 20316 /2009 Poptops Limited
- 20362 /2009 Associate Interiors (Projects) Limited
- 20398 /2009 Procom I.T. Solutions Limited
- 20467 /2009 BLV Realty Group II Ltd
- 20514 /2009 Jass Properties Limited
- 20550 /2009 Pest Control Solutions Ltd
- 20558 /2009 Alpha Bearing Limited
- 20564 /2009 Woodsetton Steels Limited
- 20592 /2009 Drinks Inn Restaurant Limited
- 20607 /2009 Penshaw Estates Limited
- 20619 /2009 Noah's Workshop Limited
- 20638 /2009 Festive Impact Lighting Limited
- 20648 /2009 L. Longford Limited
- 20729 /2009 Hesse Developments Limited
- 20740 /2009 Thom Engineering Limited
- 20745 /2009 Caged Manufacturing Limited
- 20752 /2009 DRI Events Ltd
- 20791 /2009 Intelligent Property Purchase Limited
- 21011 /2009 Graphic Industry Credit Information Ltd
- 21154 /2009 Totem Event Limited
- 21190 /2009 Acorn Energy Limited
- 21212 /2009 Bicol Servicing Company Limited
- 21311 /2009 H & C Construction & Development Limited
- 21347 /2009 Feathers On Ltd
- 21388 /2009 Etech Group Europe Limited
- 21428 /2009 1 Cheyne Walk Residents Association Limited
- 21441 /2009 Taylor M.E. Limited
- 21493 /2009 Velvet Art Limited
- 21533 /2009 Rapid Response
- 21534 /2009 Ash Vale Ranges
- 21691 /2009 The Lion Hotel & The Royal Hotel
- 21837 /2009 Euro Vision Services LTD
- 21853 /2009 S G S Landscapes And Forestry
- 21868 /2009 City Properties United (UK) Limited
- 21876 /2009 The Brighton Football Club (R.F.U.) Limited
- 21877 /2009 Scott's Group Limited
- 21879 /2009 Nightingale Grange Care Home Limited
- 21880 /2009 DJB Building Ltd
- 21881 /2009 Allfloors4less Limited
- 21882 /2009 Breckland Tiles Limited
- 21885 /2009 Stewart Macdonald Ltd
- 21886 /2009 Sunny Construction Limited
- 21889 /2009 Passion Nights Limited
- 21890 /2009 Attain Developments Limited
- Not before 11:00 am
- 21893 /2009 Baron Solutions Limited
- 21898 /2009 Chorlton Joinery (UK) Limited
- 21900 /2009 Truelink Management Limited
- 21904 /2009 Scorpion Racing (UK) Limited
- 21906 /2009 Astoria Accociates Limited
- 21907 /2009 McNamara Building Services Limited
- 21909 /2009 Gold 12 General Partner Limited
- 21915 /2009 Gold 12 Property Plus LP
- 21923 /2009 GCI Banking Ltd
- 21930 /2009 SAI International Limited
- 21934 /2009 The Exchange Bar Company Limited
- 21935 /2009 Dal Utilities Limited
- 21936 /2009 Linmar Scaffolding Limited
- 21937 /2009 DBM Electrical, Plumbing & Heating Ltd
- 21938 /2009 Architects Corporation Limited
- 21939 /2009 BLV Realty Organization Limited
- 21940 /2009 Bridgen (Ten) Limited
- 21941 /2009 Corries International Limited
- 21954 /2009 Hammel (UK) Limited
- 21957 /2009 Start Bristol Limited
- 21958 /2009 Borough of London Decorators Limited
- 21959 /2009 Smart and Kleen Limited
- 21963 /2009 Site Matters Limited
- 21964 /2009 Tudol International Limited
- 21965 /2009 Green Structural Ltd
- 21966 /2009 Pleasant Homes Limited
- 21968 /2009 Ultimate Investments Limited
- 21969 /2009 Paul Anthony Scully & Desmond Daniel Moore - T/A Scully & Scully
- 21979 /2009 Fernwave Ireland Limited
- 21985 /2009 Gone To Hell Limited
- 21993 /2009 Fencrest Enterprises Limited
- 22000 /2009 Minorplanet Limited
- 22003 /2009 Abseiling Property Maintenance Limited
- 22005 /2009 Advanced Guards (UK) Limited
- 22006 /2009 Windows Are Us Ltd
- 22007 /2009 The Ferry Inn (Stratford) Limited
- 22008 /2009 Goldmoor Enterprises Limited
- 22011 /2009 Thornton Electrical (Bristol) Limited
- 22013 /2009 Multitrax UK Limited
- 22014 /2009 Maidstone Marquee Hire Co. Limited
- 22016 /2009 Call Performance Limited
- 22018 /2009 Globalscs Limited
- 22022 /2009 AJB Scaffolding Limited
- 22023 /2009 Saverstones Cash & Carry Limited
- 22024 /2009 Altair Technologies Limited
- 22025 /2009 Flow Rod Limited
- 22026 /2009 Acme Facilities Management (Edinburgh) Limited
- 22027 /2009 Pioneer Freight Futures Company Limited
- 22032 /2009 Tigercom Limited
- 22033 /2009 Comprehensive Electrical Solutions Limited
- 22034 /2009 Adtech Services (UK) Ltd
- 22035 /2009 Davenport Control & Instrumentation Limited
- 22036 /2009 Excel Imports & Exports Limited
- 22037 /2009 M.B.W. (Heathrow) Limited
- 22038 /2009 Smooth Limited
- 22039 /2009 Amy International Artists Limited
- 22047 /2009 Fast Moving Signage Company Limited
- 22052 /2009 D & R Drylining Limited
- 22054 /2009 R & D Machinery Limited
- 22057 /2009 Motor Sport Developments Limited
- 22060 /2009 Clarke Development Corporation Limited
- 22061 /2009 D & D Retail Limited
- 22063 /2009 Floorz Hardwood Flooring Limited
- 22065 /2009 Leeks (DIY) Limited
- 22066 /2009 M.E. Hamilton Limited
- 22067 /2009 Earlswood Court Ltd
- 22069 /2009 J H Driving Services Limited
- 22073 /2009 La Bodega Lounge Bar Limited
- 22074 /2009 Corporate Vending Systems Limited
- 22077 /2009 1st Scaffolding (South West) Limited
- 22078 /2009 Forge Plant Limited
- 22081 /2009 Braylex Limited
- 22084 /2009 Authenti-C8 Ltd
- 22085 /2009 Provident Capital Limited
- 22087 /2009 Villa Neumann Limited
- 22088 /2009 UK Project Services Limited
- 22089 /2009 Sealed Units (UK) Limited
- 22092 /2009 Mike Duxbury Associates Ltd
- 22093 /2009 Covenant Family Assets Company Limited
- 22094 /2009 Creative Education (Interim) Limited
- Not before 11:30 am
- 22097 /2009 FM2 Limited
- 22098 /2009 Connaught Artists Management Ltd
- 22101 /2009 MJS Cleaning Contractors Limited
- 22104 /2009 C & D Property Investments Limited
- 22105 /2009 Access Capital Limited
- 22106 /2009 Taylor Construction (Bath) Limited
- 22108 /2009 Gredan Limited
- 22109 /2009 Essex Beer Limited
- 22110 /2009 Deneside Catholic Social Club Limited
- 22111 /2009 Lanman Asset Management Ltd
- 22115 /2009 Premier Plastering Contractors Ltd
- 22116 /2009 K.O.L UK Limited
- 22117 /2009 Steve Vincent Builders Limited
- 22123 /2009 Roseberry Yarmouth Limited
- 22133 /2009 The Bell Inn (Yarpole) Limited
- 22137 /2009 Datacomms Europe Limited
- 22139 /2009 Univest Corporation Limited
- 22142 /2009 Riverside Developments (Leicester) Limited
- 22146 /2009 F10 Limited
- 22148 /2009 World Class Stallions Limited
- 22149 /2009 Huguentos Catering Services Ltd
- 22150 /2009 Alzheimer's UK Research Education and Care Limited
- 22155 /2009 M.J. O'Connor (Bristol) Limited
- 22157 /2009 Shaheen Knitwear Limited
- 22160 /2009 Barrack Homes (UK) Limited
- 22161 /2009 Roe Brickwork Limited
- 22166 /2009 Tawe Coachbuilders Limited
- 22170 /2009 Primary Colours London Limited
- 22172 /2009 Harley Dental Clinics (Folkstone) Limited
- 22177 /2009 LGW Engineering Limited
- 22179 /2009 Smith Lance Larcade & Bechtol Architects Limited
- 22180 /2009 Portsmouth City Football Club Limited
- 313 /2010 Portsmouth City Football Club Limited
- 22181 /2009 Southend United Football Club Limited (The)
- 22182 /2009 Cardiff City Football Club Limited
- 22184 /2009 Mr. Yunus Patel and Mrs. Zebun Patel
- 22196 /2009 Anderson & Co Solicitors
- 22197 /2009 Stonework Imports Limited
- 22198 /2009 A1 Holdings Limited
- 22209 /2009 Ruby M's Limited
- 22210 /2009 A H Racing Limited
- 22212 /2009 Shimlas Limited
- 22213 /2009 Deepcar Concrete Limited
- 22214 /2009 Petrarch Holdings Limited
- 22215 /2009 Ivor Street Limited
- 22216 /2009 Redworth Construction Limited
- 22217 /2009 True Blue (Brighton Road) Developments Limited
- 22218 /2009 Richard Mander Developments Limited
- 22222 /2009 Myring & Heward Limited
- 22224 /2009 Wellcare (Eversleigh) Limited
- 22228 /2009 Blackburn Electrical Supplies Ltd
- 22230 /2009 Solar Security Limited
- 22231 /2009 Trinity Insurance Company Limited
- 22232 /2009 Quality Pipe Solutions Limited
- 22233 /2009 Hopeside Hotel
- 22234 /2009 Gear Cut (UK) Limited
- 22235 /2009 Candelabra Limited
- 22236 /2009 Dennis Richard Robin Powell & Mrs Susan Ann Powell T/A Guardian Window Cleaning Services
- 22237 /2009 UKHD Investments Limited
- 22238 /2009 American Lawyer Media International Limited
- 22239 /2009 Zeki Productions Limited
- 22240 /2009 Bellview Airlines Limited
- 22241 /2009 Impact Applications Limited
- 22245 /2009 E.B Services Limited
- 22248 /2009 Citytex (U.K.) Limited
- 22252 /2009 Davis & Co (Solicitors) Limited
- 22254 /2009 The Chequers Pub
- 22258 /2009 Vincent Shoe Store Limited
- 22259 /2009 Averhill Partnership Limited
- 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.
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”.
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”.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Kraft closes Cadbury plant
Closure
So much for Gordon Brown's assurances that no jobs would be lost by Kraft buying out Cadbury's. You know it pains me to see a British institution like Cadbury vanish, in that it was founded on Quaker principles. I'm not religious but these principles were a fair wage and also that they looked after their employees as part of their wider family.
Today who gives a hoot about this, I'm sad to see it go to be honest about it all.
So much for Gordon Brown's assurances that no jobs would be lost by Kraft buying out Cadbury's. You know it pains me to see a British institution like Cadbury vanish, in that it was founded on Quaker principles. I'm not religious but these principles were a fair wage and also that they looked after their employees as part of their wider family.
Today who gives a hoot about this, I'm sad to see it go to be honest about it all.
University job losses
University professor jobs unsafe
Even once safe university jobs are not considered to be safe anymore.
Even once safe university jobs are not considered to be safe anymore.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Do job centres still work?
A century ago the first labour exchanges opened to great acclaim. But despite the many advances, are their successors meeting their clients’ needs, asks Graham Snowdon
Jobcentres are a mixed blessing: you only attend one if you are out of work, and for many people they embody the frustration of applying for benefits or of trying to find new employment when jobs are rarer than hens’ teeth.
But on 1 February 1910, when the UK’s first 62 labour exchanges – the forerunners of today’s Jobcentre Plus network – opened their doors, interest and demand was huge. “Promising start everywhere” proclaimed the following day’s Manchester Guardian with reports of hundreds of people queueing outside offices.
With situations vacant ranging from piano regulators to picture frame gilders, labour exchanges brought new order to the hitherto chaotic process of finding work. “Before then, people would have found work through word of mouth and by visiting factories,” says Dr Ian Gazeley, senior lecturer in economic history at the University of Sussex. “There were some rudimentary public works schemes but for most, the only way to get a job was to go directly to the employer.”
Offices had separate rooms for men, women, employers and children and, as Winston Churchill – then president of the board of trade in the Asquith Liberal government – noted, each was painted green: “the colour of hope”, he said after visiting the Hackney labour exchange on its opening day.
Jobcentre Plus today has 750 offices and about 78,000 employees offering an integrated service incorporating benefits and employment search. Stepping inside is like walking into the foyer of an ultra-modern bank. Where once there were partitions and noticeboards with job vacancies on cards, now there are touch-screen “job points” and personal advisers to hand.
“We’ve seen huge changes in the service and how it helps people in the past 100 years, even in the past 10 and five years,” Yvette Cooper, work and pensions secretary, said at a new exhibition about labour exchanges in Hackney this week. “Getting away from the culture of the Full Monty and the benefit screens has been important.”
Loss of motivation
On the face of it, the service has never been so joined up. Yet as they turn 100, can jobcentres really still claim to be meeting the needs of the people they now call their “customers”? Figures released this week by the Liberal Democrats, showing more than 210,000 people seeking work in the construction industry but just 302 such vacancies available on Jobcentre Plus’s website, seem to embody the problem.
Outside the jobcentre in Hackney, opinion is mixed. Darren, aged 29, is an unemployed security guard who has been using the service on and off for about 12 years. “I’ve never found one job through the jobcentre,” he says. “I’ve been sent on a lot of courses, but when you come in here, use the job points and make a phone call, nine out of 10 times they’ve all gone. You lose motivation to keep coming back. I’ve got more jobs from going to agencies.”
Cassandra, a recent psychology graduate, has been looking for jobs for a year and is now focusing on temping work rather than anything related to her degree. “It’s not working out very well,” she says. “When I send out my CV no one ever gets back in touch.”
She wants Jobcentre Plus to help make introductions for her with potential employers: “When you send emails you don’t get any feedback, so you don’t know what you’re doing wrong.”
Not everyone is down on the jobcentre, though. Louise, a 27-year-old chef, has only been visiting it for a few months but her impressions are largely positive. “I think they’re pretty good,” she says. “I haven’t signed on before, so I’ve got nothing to compare it with.” She admits she had to ask about training and that there seemed like plenty of work on the job machines, “but it’s just not necessarily what I’m after”.
Yet still the perception remains that Jobcentre Plus is not geared to the needs of many people who have lost their jobs in this recession. Several readers commenting on a recent Guardian website article about a day in the life of a jobcentre were scathing.
“Demoralising and frustrating,” commented sansucre, referring (coincidentally) to the Hackney jobcentre. “The staff are badly informed, and just don’t care.” “The main problem seems to be that the whole system is geared towards finding low/unskilled work,” posted TheGraduate.
It’s a view shared by 54-year-old Steve Wood from Southampton, who spent 38 years working in the semiconductor industry before it collapsed last year. “The job went, the company went, and so did the business from Europe,” he recalls. Jobcentre Plus, he says, has been “a dead loss”, although he is quick to support the staff: “They do a great job for what they were set up for, which is blue-collar workers. For white-collar workers, basically they didn’t have a clue.”
Hoping to reinvent himself as a web designer, Wood sent off 220 job applications in six months and received only one interview offer. Eventually he tried Jobcentre Plus after hearing about government initiatives to help unemployed people like himself. “But they didn’t know anything about it. There was no real help at all.”
Exasperated and in need of a project, Woods set up the website Whitecollarunemployed.co.uk, aiming to share information with people in a similar predicament. It has given him practical experience and led him to some interesting contacts, but his jobseeker’s allowance, which is only paid for the first six months, has now stopped and the future is uncertain. “I’m still not earning enough to pay my bills,” he says.
Recruitment issues
It’s not just those looking for work that feel let down by jobcentres, either. Research conducted last year by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) showed fewer than one in five of its members were using Jobcentre Plus to recruit. The FSB’s national chairman, John Wright, claims his members are ignored by a service that appears to offer them precious little for the £3.36bn Jobcentre Plus spends each year. “We are concerned the lion’s share of funding goes to large companies and multinationals,” he says.
But Graham Houghton, Jobcentre Plus’s district manager for the City and East London area, insists such criticism is unfounded. “It’s simply not true,” he says. “The bulk of our vacancies are for smaller local businesses. We have account managers who go out and visit small businesses to help them with their recruitment needs. Maybe there’s an issue in getting small businesses to come to us more, but those that work with us are overwhelmingly satisfied.”
While admitting there are problems with Jobcentre Plus, Richard Exell, a senior policy officer at the TUC, also feels they get a lot of unwarranted negative publicity. “The service suffered a series of cuts a few years ago,” he points out. “But the fact is there has been a recession and there aren’t many jobs around, and that’s not Jobcentre Plus’s fault. There are far fewer horror stories now than in the past.” So are we asking too much from jobcentres now? Is it unfair to expect staff to be consistently empathetic and knowledgeable? Are we expecting them to magic jobs out of nowhere?
Seen in the context of Britain’s 19th-century poor laws, by which the impoverished unemployed would end up in the workhouses, Churchill’s labour exchanges represented a radical shift in thinking. William Beveridge, best known as an architect of the post-war welfare state, was a driving force behind the plans. “The labour department at the Board of Trade at the time was quite forward-looking,” says Gazeley. With the passing of the 1911 National Insurance Act, benefit payments followed soon after.
Labour exchanges were eventually renamed employment exchanges but their function remained largely unaltered until 1973, when the first jobcentres opened. Steve Gill, now Jobcentre Plus’s external relations manager for Surrey and Sussex, worked through the transition. “The old employment exchanges were like backstreet offices, a bit grim,” he recalls. “We used to interview people in cubicles and there were enormous queues, often out of the door.” All the jobs were simply kept in a drawer. “You would just offer them to people who asked if there were any jobs.”
Benefits were paid in cash, using a system leaving something to be desired by today’s standards. “We’d put the money in a bag and wrap it up in string, then seal it with sealing wax,” Gill says. “Each member of staff used to have a crown with a number. You stamped your crown on the ceiling wax, so when you came in the next morning, you could tell if the seal had been broken.”
How times have changed. Last week, Cooper set out a broad future vision for Jobcentre Plus in which more information and services will be made available to people online, and predicted it would soon reach out to those already in work, “to help people progress and rise up the career ladder”.
For those in need of inspiration, it could be worth bearing in mind that jobcentres are countercyclical employers. “Because of the unemployment situation, we are recruiting,” points out Houghton. “We’re now hiring a lot of good people who are enabling us to do a lot of good things.
“Probably about 60 or 70 people who have joined me over the past few months are ex-financial services people, who have experience of having been made redundant and who have experience of Jobcentre Plus services.”
Perhaps something small but good has come of the credit crunch after all.
A brief history of jobcentres
1908 Winston Churchill appointed president of the board of trade; draws up plans for labour exchanges
1909 Parliament passes act to launch the labour exchange
1910 In February the first 62 labour exchanges are opened
1916 The ministry of labour is formed
1945 Founding of welfare state
1973 Jobcentre network opens
1975 Sex Discrimination Act bans sex discrimination
1986 New Job Training Scheme and Restart interviews introduced
1987 Jobcentres become part of Department of Employment, operating alongside benefits offices
1996 Unemployment benefit and income support merge to become jobseeker’s allowance
1997 New Deal programmes give people on benefits extra help to find work, with training and career advice
2001 Department for Work and Pensions formed
2002 Jobcentre becomes Jobcentre Plus
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Some minor good news
Slavery permitted illegal
William Wilberforce would be happy at last,
'Unpaid Internships Deemed Illegal .....
As unemployment figures for16 - 24 year olds rise to one-in-five an Employment Tribunal has ruled that workers employed on an expenses-only basis are entitled to payment at least in line with the national minimum wage, in addition to payment for the holiday they accrue. The decision emphasises that creative industry employers are not excluded from obligations under the national minimum wage regulations.
HMRC, are reported very shortly to be issuing guidelines recognising that unpaid internships are illegal and qualify for the minimum wage. '
I think unpaid internships are now illegal in the UK (though not entirely sure as everything was a bit up in the air last time I looked, after the tribunal ruling mentioned above) - they have been in the US for quite a while - I suggest she contacts HMRC, then shops her ex-employer - if they have indeed broken the law.
Shell sacks 1000
1000 more jobs to go
Shell, Britain’s second-biggest oil company, will cut a further 1,000 jobs this year as it reported a bigger than expected 69 per cent fall in full-year profits and cautioned of an “uncertain” outlook for 2010.
The Anglo-Dutch company reported 2009 earnings of $9.8 billion on a current cost of supplies basis, against $31.4 billion for 2008.
Peter Voser, chief executive of Shell, said: “Oil prices have increased compared to a year ago, but gas prices and refining margins have declined sharply, because of weaker demand and high industry inventory levels. We are not assuming that there will be a quick recovery, and the outlook for 2010 is uncertain”
Under its restructuring programme, Project Transition, Shell has already reduced staff numbers by 5,000 last year. It will add a further 1,000 to the tally, mainly from its downstream and corporate functions.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Dire economic situation 1
What am I seeing here you might ask, well what you are seeing is that the UK government gilt market is issuing rather a large amount of debt, this is represented by the blue lines. At the same time from March 2009 the BoE (Bank of England) started its quantitive easing program. That is in essence printing money out of thin air and using this to buy UK government gilts.
This is EXACTLY what Zimbabwe and the Weimar Republic did in the 1990s and 1920s respectively.
This can only lead to one thing:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
End of the day
Although its not exactly fair to post jobs near the start of the day at the end of the day 4 more pages of jobs turned up which are 20 jobs each or there abouts.
So the final count is 76 jobs for today, shame I can't actually do many of them as they require nursing qualifications and or driving 7.5 ton trucks.
So the final count is 76 jobs for today, shame I can't actually do many of them as they require nursing qualifications and or driving 7.5 ton trucks.
So why not look for other jobs
15 miles of Manchester and this morning these are all the jobs that I could find:
This is NOT a narrow search it is the widest possible search parameters possible on the jobs website, 15 miles of my location, any time any hours, temp or perm or contract. The only restriction was on today's jobs in that prior jobs for Saturday (sunday is always a quiet day) .However if I did that, that would be double counting of jobs for each day. So today's score is
6
An awful lot of people say to me on forums why not just apply outside accountancy? as there are loads of jobs outside accountancy, the problem is there aren't as above. Of the above I can probably do ONE of those jobs as they all require qualification, certification of somekind and most importantly experience of that job. All of those qualifications and certifications cost money, money I don't have in effect another tax as they are the sort of certifications that nobody fails hand over your money and you get the certificate.
This also leads to a bigger problem in that if I do not mention accountancy suddenly there is a 7 year hole in my CV 8 actually. In that it took me 3 years to graduate (although I worked as a chef in the meantime) and I have just under 4 years experience and 1 year underemployed.
How am I supposed to explain the massive gap in my CV, who will I get to give me references? I'm pretty sure high school and 6th form college don't remember me, in fact the staff who did teach me even at university which is my most recent experience of education have left or retired.
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