Government plough £1bn into "soft jobs"

Graham_Devon

I wholly agree with getting them to do something useful. There are many things that could be done, which would not effect real jobs...and therefore, real wages. What I wouldn't like to see is the government create a load of loft laggers, which only puts loft laggers currently out of business. That's completely unfair competition.

Graffiti removal, grass and hedge cutting, motorway cleansing (i.e. cutting grass, litter removal, making our motorways a nicer place etc).

There are many things that could be done to make the UK a nicer place to be in, to look at etc, which wouldn't cost other people their own jobs through artificial competition.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Graffiti removal, grass and hedge cutting, motorway cleansing (i.e. cutting grass, litter removal, making our motorways a nicer place etc).

There are many things that could be done to make the UK a nicer place to be in, to look at etc, which wouldn't cost other people their own jobs through artificial competition.

Absolutely. Thanks to the selfish ignorant attitude that so many people have grown up with our towns and countryside so often looks like a tip. An army of groundforce type workers going out to clean up would be a very positive way to create jobs.

Graham_Devon

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

Absolutely. Thanks to the selfish ignorant attitude that so many people have grown up with our towns and countryside so often looks like a tip. An army of groundforce type workers going out to clean up would be a very positive way to create jobs.

Well I have said it before, and been attacked because I'm "implying" these people are worthless to do anything more than this.

However, this is an area which could help the environment, make the UK a nicer place, not tread on the toes of other jobs and livlihoods, and get people working for their crust.

Win win all round if you ask me. Would even create a whole set of jobs to run the scheme.

Idiophreak

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Well I have said it before, and been attacked because I'm "implying" these people are worthless to do anything more than this.

However, this is an area which could help the environment, make the UK a nicer place, not tread on the toes of other jobs and livlihoods, and get people working for their crust.

Win win all round if you ask me. Would even create a whole set of jobs to run the scheme.

Entirely back this idea. The state of some of the bridleways I run / cycle along really is shocking, lots of footpaths are getting lost under hedges etc - a couple of guys with some hedgecutters could sort them out in a day or two...

Graham_Devon

Bloody hell. Were now paying for graduates to go on holiday in their gap year!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8179565.stm

The government is to pay for graduates struggling to get a job to go on trips abroad, The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed.
It said the scheme will be launched with expedition company Raleigh International next week.
It will pay for 500 young people under the age of 24 to travel to places such as Costa Rica and India to take part in projects such as building schools.

System

I guess the cost of travel abroad is less than JSA for a year?

Graham_Devon

Joeskeppi wrote: »

I guess the cost of travel abroad is less than JSA for a year?

Keeps the figures down too, not by much in this case, but I'm sure we don't have this kind of money to be doing these kinds of things right now!

I might quit work, and get put on a cruise.

kennyboy66_2

Generali wrote: »

Government 'make work' schemes aren't necessarily a bad idea, it's just this hasn't been thought through.

Why not get these people doing something useful? They could repair roads or insulate old peoples' houses for example. If the Government was borrowing money (taking consumption from the future to use today) to invest in something that would make tomorrow and today better, that would be a good idea. To borrow that money and blow it all on wine, women and dance teachers is just a waste.

Did you read the article ?

"However, in a move that attracted claims that public money is being wasted on "soft jobs", others include positions for forestry workers & loft laggers".


"Jobs based around refurbishing council houses are also to be created."


Doesn't make a "Telegraph" style headline though does it ?

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

A billion pounds is to be spent on creating tens of thousands of "soft" public sector jobs for unemployed people including dance assistants, tourism ambassadors and solar panel engineers.

I sometimes like to think that I'm neither left or right, bear or bull.

But my first reaction when I read this is that it'd be ace to get lots of people dancing for the fun of it, that Britain is quite a cool country and more people show people around with good knowledge is a good thing and the more solar panels the better. All money better spent than on massive IT projects and bailouts. So I think I'm probably a lefty.

kennyboy66_2

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

Absolutely. Thanks to the selfish ignorant attitude that so many people have grown up with our towns and countryside so often looks like a tip. An army of groundforce type workers going out to clean up would be a very positive way to create jobs.

In fact we could call them Youth Training Schemes or Youth Opportunity Schemes.

Back to the 1980's.

Its deja vu all over again *