Thursday, August 11, 2011
Scotland on the Dole
In North Ayrshire, Scotland's worst-affected area, unemployment rocketed to 11.9 per cent - an increase of 5.5 percentage points in the three years covered by the survey. In Glasgow, the jobless rate rose to 11.7 per cent, up 4.8 points. A total of 6.3 per cent of Edinburgh's population was unemployed at the end of 2010, which represented an increase of two points over the three years. In Dundee, unemployment stood at 9.2 per cent - up 2.6 points.
Scotland's overall unemployment figure had increased from 4.7 per cent in 2007 to 7.7 per cent in 2010. Scotland's levels of economic inactivity, which includes all those who are not in work or claiming unemployment benefit, such as people with long-term illnesses or disabilities rose from 22.5 per cent in 2007 to 23 per cent over the three-year period covered by the survey. Figures also showed that the percentage of people in work in Scotland fell between 2008 and 2010, with the figure going from 73.5 per cent to 71 per cent.
There were also tens of thousands of young unemployed, aged 16-19, who were not in any sort of education of training. The survey showed 36,000 - or 13.7 per cent - of 16-19 year-olds were not in education, employment or training (NEET) - a figure that remained unchanged between 2009 and 2010.
Monday, August 08, 2011
"this is an announcement..."
Workers said they were told there would be no further employment opportunities at Sykes unless they spoke a second language. After the call ended on the speaker phone one of the team leaders just said 'right, go back to your desks and log in'. The worker added: "We have been told that there are no other opportunities unless you speak German or Italian."
One worker said: "We were packed into a conference room, about 80 of us, and the account manager for O2 came on the speaker phone to explain that a firm in Ireland had come in to do the work cheaper and we would have 90 days before the contract was ended...People were really shocked because we were never told losing the account was a possibility and we are mostly on permanent contracts but they were also really annoyed that they didn't tell us face to face"
Caring capitalism at work.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Scottish suicides
28 per cent said they had contemplated suicide. A third of Scots often felt their "life was being wasted", while two-thirds said being classed a "Neet" - Not in Education, Employment of Training - made them "feel bad about themselves".
Citizens Advice Scotland found the unemployment rate for young people to be around 20 per cent, almost three times the overall figure.
The human impact of the recession was also laid bare by new research showing the number of suicides during the economic crisis increased by as much as 29% in parts of the U.K. and also spiked in the worst affected countries in the European Union. The increase in suicides was most apparent in countries that had been badly affected by the financial crisis: Greece and Ireland. In those countries, the number of suicides increase by 17% and 13% respectively between 2007 and 2009.
Dr David Stuckler, from the University of Cambridge in the U.K, one of the researchers, said: "There was a complete turnaround. Suicides were falling before the recession, then started rising in nearly all European countries studied. Almost certainly these rises are linked to the financial crisis..."
Monday, May 16, 2011
unemployment
"Dozens of towns and cities have more than 10 dole claimants chasing every vacancy and areas on their doorstep are not faring much better. It's not good enough for ministers to brand those out of work as feckless and claim that there are plenty of jobs out there. The reality is very different." TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said
It doesn't matter where you live, deprivation is a world problem.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
old and young suffer
In January this year, Glasgow had Scotland's highest proportion of youngsters in severe poverty at 18%, followed by North Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire and Clackmannanshire at 14%, and Dundee at 12%.
The charity said Glasgow had almost 18 people chasing every job vacancy, and that in West Dunbartonshire there are more than 36 people vying for every job.
Douglas Hamilton, Save the Children's head of Scotland, said: "Urgent action is required in Scotland's most deprived areas or we will end up with a lost generation. Some of these children will grow up living in households with no working adults - they have never seen a parent or grandparent work and this becomes the norm. People don't see a route out of poverty or this cycle of worklessness "
Meanwhile, Pensioners should lose a series of benefits, including free TV licences, free bus travel and the winter fuel allowance, to ease the financial squeeze on younger people, according to the think-tank., the Institute of Economic Affairs.
David Manion, chief executive of Age Scotland, said: “Suggesting that all older people enjoy a ‘privileged’ economic position shows total ignorance of the reality of life for the majority of over-65s. In fact the UK has one of the lowest state pensions in Europe, with 1.8 million pensioners living in poverty and many more surviving just above the breadline.”
Yet Elinor McKenzie, chair of the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum, said: “Every year around 3000 older people in Scotland die over the winter months from cold-related illnesses."
Thursday, January 06, 2011
wages or jobs?
“The recruitment freeze is already condemning a generation of young people – many of whom have trained for years – to unemployment..." the union explained
Aberdeen City Council's SNP-LibDem coalition voted in December to begin negotiating with the unions about a 5% pay reduction, which would remove the need to shed about 1000 members of staff.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
A challenge to debate
Dundee has the highest levels of poverty in Scotland with 24% of families officially classed as poor.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said; “Iain Duncan-Smith should have the guts to stand up in front of the communities at the sharp end of his welfare cuts, like the people of Dundee. If he refuses to meet with the Unemployed Centre it will show in the clearest terms that this ConDem Government doesn’t have the bottle to justify their cuts plans to those who will be hit hardest.”
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Analysts say women are bearing the brunt of the recession and public-sector cuts, with women in Scotland losing their jobs at a rate more than seven times greater than for men. The number of females out of work north of the Border soared by 5000 to 93,000 over the summer. Across the UK, female unemployment rose by 31,000 in the three months to September to reach 1.02 million – the highest level since 1988.
The number of workers forced to take part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work has also reached a record high, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The will to work
Geraldine Gammell, the director of The Prince's Trust Scotland, which works with young people to help them into work, said: "Too many young people in Scotland are facing a cycle of worklessness and can't see a way out. It is a tragedy to think that so many feel condemned to a life of unemployment when there is a real will to work."
Thursday, October 15, 2009
No work , No hope
Almost one in three households in Glasgow have no wages coming in, official statistics have revealed.
Figures released by the Scottish Government show 62,000 households in the city - 28.9% of all homes - had no working-age adult in employment last year. That puts Glasgow behind the national average of 24%. The stats also reveal a shocking 22,900 children in Glasgow live in a workless home.
The director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, branded the figures a "scandal".
"There is little doubt that unemployment means that people will struggle to afford the basics in life. For these families heating their home and putting food on the table is the challenge. In the 21st century that is quite clearly a scandal. We know that children in workless households, living in poverty, will have less chance in life than children from better-off backgrounds.We know that their education will be adversely affected and they are more likely to suffer health problems. The danger is that we perpetuate a cycle of worklessness and limited opportunity."
Capitalism cannot be reformed for the benefit of the working class and sooner the well meaning realise this fact , the sooner , we can begin the dismantling of the capitalist system .
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