I was out of work for a full 3 months, but at the end of October managed to find a good job, albeit paying 40% less than I had been earning before. Still, it’s a job.

I never did get a penny in unemployment benefits, which I suppose is fair enough since I had been away for 15 years, but it makes me sick to think of how many immigrants to the UK are claiming benefits and far more than I could have got too. It makes me sick also to think of all the people who sit all day in their council houses, their housing, food, and everything else paid for, when nobody in their family has done a day of work for years and has no intention of doing so. I feel bad for people who can’t get a job, but I see red thinking of all those who don’t want to work and just sponge off the taxpayers.

Hoping you find a decent job soon Ry, you deserve it.
Tony

I cant help but feel that this is a kick in the teeth to people exactly like you, I graduated in July 2009 with a First Class Honours degree and have had just two months of work since. There are 2.5m unemployed people, 400000 job vacancies. Unemployment was 1.25m at its lowest. About 80% of unemployed people have worked in the past 6 months, 90% have worked in the past 12 months. That leaves 10% who can perhaps be considered unwilling to work, just 250000 people. It saddens me that people tarnish THEMSELVES with the brush of an almost non-existant trait.

If you have a chip on your shoulder about those with benefits then perhaps consider that it is those on long term sickness benefits, who are not even countered in the unemployment statistics, many of who take £100+ per week for being an alcoholic or drug addict.

Why is it that only during a recession does the knives turn onto the unemployed? Seems bizarre logic. As for your contributions, quite right! Although I symphasise greatly with the delay on your benefits, it must be very hard for you right now, I happened to work a gap year in America….. and when I returned to the UK I paid £572 in National Insurance contributions. That contribution was optional, but I researched the pros and cons. Specifically, I didnt want to lose the right to a contributions based state pension. As a student, on a student loan, I was required to pay the sums of £272, £385, and £412 in NI contributions in order to ‘top up’ my payments.

I do believe that if you want to take out, you should be willing to put in, that system is spot on. Now they just need to consider pulling out of the EU, and sending back the 1.2m eastern europeans working in this country. See what that does to the unemployment rate? It falls to 1.3m. Just 0.5m higher than the lowest rate of the past 3 decades. And that is where the problem lies, Polish, Latvian, Bulgarian, all working for £5.80 an hour.

Bankers are wankers? Pah, the loss of this countries independance has done more than any other factor to fuck us all up.

Sorry about the rant, I know that it wasnt all directly relevant. Best wishes,

Ry.