It is not a good time to be growing up.
Gone are the days when you could walk into the local pub and ask if anybody was looking for casual labour.
Somebody would offer you a week’s work on a shovel which would give you some beer money.
In today’s world that would be viewed as “persecuted”.
We had apprenticeships, where young people were taught a skill, for less than the national average wage, but knowing full well that their endeavour would result in a financially rewarding trade.
Girls worked in hairdressers or shops at weekends, learning the ropes, and gaining valuable work experience.
The Construction Industry (not apprenticeships) took on lads and taught them the basics, only paying them a full wage once they had proved that they were worth it, and affordable.
With the introduction of the national minimum wage, many smaller businesses struggled with the extra costs involved, and for some the training of inexperienced youngsters was shelved.
Much of today’s added employment costs have been introduced by bodies who have no relevant knowledge of running a business in the real world, with everything seemingly viewed from a public service angle.
You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.
And on the employment workfront, we have over 10 million citizens within the UK who are labelled as being “economically inactive”, with a large number claiming benefits.
This being fact, why are we still encouraging Labour from outside of the UK to move here and take what few vacancies are left in a shrinking jobs market?
Does this make economic sense in these dire times?
Perhaps somebody should explain this line of thinking to William Tabor.
Good luck to him in his search for a job.
Bob Woodland
Poole