For me, this year is starting as it is for millions of our fellow citizens – dealing with a complete change, having found myself redundant.
I am though, one of the lucky ones. I don’t need to worry about getting a new job for a while. I have the luxury of taking my time and hopefully finding something that suits me rather than being forced to take something, anything, to keep the wolf from the door.
But most don’t have that luxury, for our young people coming out of school or university with all the enthusiasm and aspiration of youth finding themselves with little prospect of job. And for those at the other end of their working lives – my kind of age – wondering if they are destined for the scrap heap with no chance of working again.
Whether we like it or not, our self esteem is very tied up with what we do for a living. How many social events have you been to where you were not asked the ubiquitous question “and what do you do for a living?” It’s not just small talk – it’s how we find our place in the world.
So what if the most interesting morsel you have to offer is that you don’t have a job? It shouldn’t matter but it does and the longer we go on without a job the harder it becomes to get back into the world of work. It affects our confidence, our motivation, our relationships, our mental health, our sense of who we are.
There are many estimates of the cost per annum of being a NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) young person – but I have seen figures going as high as £50,000 per head. So, not investing in their futures is not only bad in terms of the human cost, it is also foolish because of the economic cost.
The 2010 Princes Trust Yougov Youth Index makes harrowing reading. Probably the most worrying aspect is the impact unemployment has on young people’s mental health.
Thirty years ago, during the recession of the early Eighties I remember hearing someone from the North East speak about the devastating impact of the recession on the lives of the young people he was working with. He said something I have never forgotten and which always haunted me when working with and on behalf of unemployed young people – he said:
The time that they could have spent working has been lost – and it has been lost forever.
I welcome the new Youth Contract. It is a step in the right direction, but we mustn’t forget the parents and grandparents of these young people, who also need to feel valued and respected, who don’t want to feel as if they are on the scrap heap however near retirement they are. There is a certain irony in the drive to raise the retirement age when so many would do anything for a job, or the total madness of some folk working eighty hour weeks while others twiddle their thumbs.
So, my solution? I think we need to encourage much more flexible working. Why do we hold to the idea that every job is 35-40 hour sized? I have had so much more fun since working a 28 hour week! We need to recognise the short-termism of the savage cuts that not only damage communities but also create more problems than they solve with all the attendant costs of unemployment. We must do more to encourage and support mutuals and employee ownership – which can contribute to reducing inequality and promoting economic justice. And we must challenge the “I’m alright Jack” (‘scuse the pun!) attitude that stops us acknowledging that universal truth that no man – or woman – is an island.
And what will I be up to in my new found freedom?! Well, I have plans for some voluntary youth work……..and a fair bit more blogging and tweeting. You have been warned!
* Linda Jack is a former youth worker and member of the party's Federal Policy Committee.
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9 Comments
As you have more time for blogging will you be giving us an update from the Labour Party policy Committee you are on?
Have you managed to persuade them to ditch their daft centralism and devolve more power to local councils?
Glad to see that Simon and Daniel are full of New Year cheer.
Good for you Linda. The whole job/identity thing is fascinating. I have had five years as a full-time PPC and then five years
as a full-time parent. It’s amazing how bewildering such an eccentric cv is for those who like to categorize people.
“So, my solution? I think we need to encourage much more flexible working. Why do we hold to the idea that every job is 35-40 hour sized? I have had so much more fun since working a 28 hour week!”
Totally agree (nursing home accountant 20hrs per week + borough cllr) my big drawback is that this doesn’t bring in enough money for me to pay for out of control cost of housing. Property costs (including rents) are so high in where I am that it is suffocating society and preventing new business start-ups.
Linda Jack,
How much would it help if every UK-born UK citizen received on their 25th birthday £2,000 this year, £4,000 next year up to £10,000 in the fifth year and hopefully more – up to three times the lowest annual university tuition fees in due course? It has to be introduced gradually, so that no one year group loses out by too much.
To be financed by reform of Inheritance Tax into a modest flat rate Capital Donor Tax deductible from a progressive Unearned Capital Receipts Tax starting at the same rate – all with abolition of current outrageously unlimited exemptions for lifetime gifts and agricultural, business and shareholding assets.
I have banged on about this several times recently – see the Archive for ” Opinion: the problem of Welfare Reform
By Iain Roberts | Published 1st January 2012 – 5:41 pm”.
When will the Labour Party pick up Universal Inheritance – see http://www.universal-inheritance.org? The trouble is, they don’t much like any kind of capitalism.
What Labour should really be against is Dynastic Capitalism – in which it is taken for granted that some will inherit billions and others will inherit nothing. Replace Dynastic Capitalism with Universal Inheritance Capitalism! – Democratic Capitalism – Popular Capitalism – whatever, with Universal Inheritance.
That would really start to tackle the blight of hugely unequal ownership of unearned wealth, which is so often neglected in discussion of inequality of income, important as that is.
I should have said “deductible from a cumulative progressive Lifetime Unearned Capital Tax starting at the same rate”
Why is the unequal distribution of inherited wealth so ignored by reformers? Would some great orator please get going on it! In a capitalist democracy there should be Universal Inheritance as well as Universal Suffrage. All men are not equal if some start off inheriting billions and others start off inheriting nothing. Think of orphans. Think of the children of bankrupts, children of the poor.
It is not enough to get just education and health. Everyone needs to have the experience of a bit of a financial cushion to help them start a small business, pay for university education, start to save for a deposit for a house, buy a car, or whatever it is that they themselves think is not a waste.
I am absolutely with where you are coming from on this. The lack of jobs – and the even greater lack of good jobs – disfigures lives and society very profoundly and is a symptom of something badly wrong with the economy.
But when it comes to solutions I am less happy. Flexible working etc is fine but doesn’t get to the heart of the problem- we need to find and fix what is wrong with the economy. Unfortunately I don’t think we are going to find it anytime soon because we are trying in the wrong way as Prof John Kay explains (he is talking about corporate strategy but his point is equally true of political strategy).
http://www.johnkay.com/2012/01/04/avoiding-fluff-is-surest-route-to-success
Flexible working is fine – if you have the kind of hourly rate that pays the bill at 28 hours. I bet most of us would find life a lot more fun if we could afford doing that.
I assume that you can be relaxed about searching for a job for some time because you have, in one way or other, some cash to spare. If so, you are among a small minority of lucky people – good for you!
But the solutions you suggest are simply out of reach for most people with normal jobs and the kind of housing costs most of us contend with. We have to start with the issue of a living wage and with the ridiculous price of housing (rented or owned) in this country if we want to come to grips with these problems.
Flexible working hours would be a good start – help eliminate rush hour traffic etc. Encouraging businesses to use remote working, working from home, video conferencing etc. would also be good – I know people who work from home 2 days a week and have a much better work/life balance as a result.