Is EMA Fair???

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

And there were the people who desperately wanted to stay on in education...but whose parents were poor and unable to pay for a single thing. As such, students were unable to pay bus fares (five mile walk, anyone?), buy books, buy stationery, go on field trips, get clothes to wear, etc. And with no minimum wage, the £1 an hour wage meant that the Saturday job still didn't cover everything.

It's not a case of paying for mobile access and cigarettes for everyone...for a lot of people, it boils down to food and heating. You are fortunate in that you have not yet experienced this side of life yet.

rev_henry

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

And there were the people who desperately wanted to stay on in education...but whose parents were poor and unable to pay for a single thing. As such, students were unable to pay bus fares (five mile walk, anyone?), buy books, buy stationery, go on field trips, get clothes to wear, etc. And with no minimum wage, the £1 an hour wage meant that the Saturday job still didn't cover everything.

It's not a case of paying for mobile access and cigarettes for everyone...for a lot of people, it boils down to food and heating. You are fortunate in that you have not yet experienced this side of life yet.

:eek: When did this stop?! Or was it widespread until minimum wages came in? Why would anyone bother doing a Saturday job for £1/hour?

Oldernotwiser

rev_henry wrote: »

:eek: When did this stop?! Or was it widespread until minimum wages came in? Why would anyone bother doing a Saturday job for £1/hour?

Have you never heard of the effects of inflation?

rev_henry

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Have you never heard of the effects of inflation?

Yes, I just meant was this in 1995 or 1970?! Bit of a difference.

olly300

rev_henry wrote: »

Yes, I just meant was this in 1995 or 1970?! Bit of a difference.

Before the minimum wage came in, in certain parts of the country it was common to find security guard jobs for £2.12 an hour. I remember because I was extremely shocked about it.

Even with the minimum wage there are families who are essentially the working poor thanks to the cost of rent. You have to remember than not everywhere in the country are their council houses. EMA gives kids in these families a chance to get better qualifications so they don't end up the same situation as their parents.

thabiz

EMA is designed to sweeten up the unemployment figures and save the state money. EMA is £30 a week, is a pain to apply for so many dont even bother. And can be taken away from you for being late to a lesson. Its a tiny drop in the ocean. The fiddles of MPs, PMs, big business and generally the very wealthy are the problem. And im sure would make the £30 a week look like the joke it really is.

The truth is there really arent the unskilled or even skilled labour jobs that we used to have. Thats why there people are on the dole, unless you have the right mindset/abilities/environment to get yourself a degree and get onto some sort of public sector job (that's the only growth industry in the UK) your most likely going to be state dependent. Its either that or do some minimum wage service job at McDonalds or ASDA and actually end up loosing money most of the time. Thats how it is. Dont forget doleys pay taxes too, the money they receive all comes back into the economy some how. Of course this system keeps people in their place and provides the public sector with millions of problems it can feed on.

Unless we had a government that was prepared to re open the mines, buy back British Steel, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Rover, Aston Martin etc we are going to have the same hopeless mess. Other nations in Europe have been successful in keeping labour jobs. Just look at Germany. I cant remember the exact statistics but many, many Germans work in the motor industry and other industry besides. The Germans have apprenticeship schemes for school leavers to teach them skills at the BMW, Mercedes, VW, Audi, Opel plants and get them into steady, lifelong, well paid jobs. The Germans even bought back the weapons giant Heckler and Koch from us and have made a huge success of it. France, Italy also have similar industry. Even the Swedes made sure that Saab didnt go bust and now have several new models coming out.

Britain is in a bad way not because of EMA, Dole or even those nasty benefit thieves you see on the adverts. Britain is in a bad way because of leaders that simply couldn't care less about us. They are only interested in getting what they can and helping the powerful. Sadly it isnt going to change. Tory, Labour it wont matter.

looby75

olly300 wrote: »

Before the minimum wage came in, in certain parts of the country it was common to find security guard jobs for £2.12 an hour. I remember because I was extremely shocked about it.

when I was a cleaner in a pub I got paid £2.20 an hour not a lot for cleaning up the mess in the loos after a saturday night. It's a good job I've got a strong stomach lol

rev_henry

thabiz wrote: »

EMA is designed to sweeten up the unemployment figures and save the state money. EMA is £30 a week, is a pain to apply for so many dont even bother. And can be taken away from you for being late to a lesson. Its a tiny drop in the ocean. The fiddles of MPs, PMs, big business and generally the very wealthy are the problem. And im sure would make the £30 a week look like the joke it really is.
You're spot on there, I think in the long term, if you take a broader view EMA does actually save the country money. Although I think most teenagers will jump through any kind of hoops for free money every week. I know I would, although maybe that's why I'm here.

The truth is there really arent the unskilled or even skilled labour jobs that we used to have. Thats why there people are on the dole, unless you have the right mindset/abilities/environment to get yourself a degree and get onto some sort of public sector job (that's the only growth industry in the UK) your most likely going to be state dependent. Its either that or do some minimum wage service job at McDonalds or ASDA and actually end up loosing money most of the time. Thats how it is. Dont forget doleys pay taxes too, the money they receive all comes back into the economy some how. Of course this system keeps people in their place and provides the public sector with millions of problems it can feed on.

Sorry, so either I'm going to get ANY degree and work for the NHS/local council etc, or I'm going to work in McDs or ASDA? I don't think so somehow...

shiningdove

I studied my A-Levels two years ago.
I came from a house whom at the time didn't earn a lot of money. (my dad was training in his job, my mother looking after the younger children).

I recived £30.00 a week for EMA.

I spent none of my time at sixth form "flinging bits of paper around". I spent the whole time studying. My money went on study supplies and textbooks and i worked bloody hard. The people surrounding me who also were on EMA were in the same sort of boat. My best friend - her parents just split up.. she could of lived with her mentally insane mother or with her dad - now not a full time carer for her mother but looking for a job after he was made redundant. She is the smartest person i know. She didn't have to study so hard as myself but the whole of her money went on textbooks, studying and even food as her dad couldn't afford a lot at the time.

Without that money i dare say that my family could managed to put me through sixth form at the time.. but it would of been a scrape through. My best friend would of never of managed to go.

olly300

thabiz wrote: »

EMA is designed to sweeten up the unemployment figures and save the state money. EMA is £30 a week, is a pain to apply for so many dont even bother. And can be taken away from you for being late to a lesson. Its a tiny drop in the ocean. The fiddles of MPs, PMs, big business and generally the very wealthy are the problem. And im sure would make the £30 a week look like the joke it really is.

The truth is there really arent the unskilled or even skilled labour jobs that we used to have. Thats why there people are on the dole, unless you have the right mindset/abilities/environment to get yourself a degree and get onto some sort of public sector job (that's the only growth industry in the UK) your most likely going to be state dependent. Its either that or do some minimum wage service job at McDonalds or ASDA and actually end up loosing money most of the time. Thats how it is. Dont forget doleys pay taxes too, the money they receive all comes back into the economy some how. Of course this system keeps people in their place and provides the public sector with millions of problems it can feed on.

I have friends' and acquaintances some of whom are in their early 20s who are not degree qualified,don't work in the public sector and are not on the minimum wage. They also don't receive any money from the government.