Following a question I just saw on here about striking, I just wondered that if every single person of working age and ability were to attempt to get a job, would there be enough work in this country for everyone? (sorry if this seems a stupid question).
It would depend whether they had the skills appropriate to the job or not. No point in hiring plumbers to carry out X-rays. Just because you have 2 million jobs and 2 million jobseekers, it doesn't mean all our problems are solved.
It's not a stupid quastion at all Milly, in fact it's a very interesting one. What cannot be allowed for tho is people who decide to create their own businesses / jobs. The question would then be, is the economy sufficiently bouyant to support 'X' amount of new businesses and as 'X' is an indefinable amount, it's hard to say.
Not stupid at all Milly, which is why the governments assertion that they are going to get everyone off benifits and into work doesn't hold water.
What they will do is cut benefits and tell the rest of the country that they still won't work. As they do every time they are in power they just want a vast pool of desperate people who will work for base rate.
Unless of course they have a plan to create 2 milion jobs and replace all the jobs they are about to destroy.
I had in mind originally to exclude any type of skills but I suppose you have to really. With the lack of manufacturing in this country now, I suppose that strikes off plenty of jobs.
Whether we like it or not the only solution for many unemployed is to go the self-employment route. Once you get past 45 many employers will not take on skilled workers and some even get their employees from India to cope. The unskilled are in competition with those from Eastern Europe who are prepared to work harder for the same money. Youngsters leaving school have no experience so are not suitable for many employers.
You can check the number of vacancies available probably about 500,000 and on top of this you get the usual turnover of workers moving jobs.
With the retirement age being raised to 68 the future looks bleak for many and can only add to the unemployment register.