The Times is reporting the unemployment register has the smallest rise for six months in April, boosting hopes that the worst of the toll from the economic slump has passed.
The article also state that ' in a strong sign that the surge in job losses fuelled by recession is wearing off, numbers out of work and claiming unemployment benefit rose by a far smaller than expected 57.000 last month.'
Lots of positive comments from 'experts' in the article but not one has made any connection with the new training or apprenticeships now provided by the government. Apprenticeships are not jobs and far too many of today's apprentices think they are and expect a job at the end of their time. Apprenticeships are for people to learn skills and do not include a job on completion.
I wonder how many have been shifted from the unemployment register onto apprenticeships where they have little chance of a job after training? Some people go on these schemes and have no intention of holding down a regular job but, in order to preserve their benefits they must attend.
From my own experience of apprenticeships government sponsored schemes do attract employers who want very cheap labour for a couple of years (although not all fall into this category) and have little or no intention of offering the apprentice a job at the end of it. Until the 1980s an apprentice wasn't kept on if they weren't up to the task but these days it's quite different. The government today tends to bribe employers to keep apprentices who are not up to the work but of course they are not offered employment at the end of it all. Rightly so.
I suspect there are thousands of unemployed have been taken off the unemployment register and undergoing the latest 'apprenticeship' training without a hope in hell of getting a real job. Some because they're hopeless at their chosen vocation and others because they've been unfortunate enough to pick an apprenticeship with a business which has few scruples and for years they've used every apprenticeship scheme various governments have introduced.
Posts
2 comments:
I'm currently on New Deal 50 Plus a so called training scheme designed to help people back into non-existent jobs. There are private business centres in all big towns across the country running these courses along side about another 6 New Deal programmes for all other categories of unemployed and we are all mixed in together.
After two weeks initial training of how to write a CV and a cover letter you are virtually abandoned to teach yourself Basic Literacy and Numeracy from multiple choice answers on screen by guess work. Thursdays are Job Search Days when everyone has to search the Internet for the rapidly disappearing jobs.
Many of the people on these courses are forced to attend or lose their benefits. The facilities are appalling and grossly under funded without enough PCs, without qualified teachers and no practical training in any useful skills. Some of the youngsters are sent on work experience two days a week stacking shelves as free labour or volunteer work in charity shops. Not exactly adding skills to our manufacturing base.
It appears this scheme takes everyone off the unemployment records after six months and puts them down as under training so as to fiddle Labour’s Statistics. The chances of getting work are virtually zero and the training is virtually non-existent. People on New Deal 50 Plus who have been working for the past thirty years hardly require work experience stacking supermarket shelves for no wage without a job at the end.
New Labour never address the problems of this country they just fudge the issues in an attempt to cling on to power so as they can continue to gorge from the Westminster Trough at tax payers expense whilst continuing to destroy the fabric of the country and any trace of democracy we might have had.
I really sympathise with you Lorenzo because I know all this 'apprenticeship' business is rubbish. The standard of training offered by many agencies these days is also pathetic.
I do hope it works out for you. What job are you interested in?
Post a Comment