[Archived] Quality Of Life In Britain Is The Best It Has Ever Been

[Paul]

I didn't actually comment on the minimum wage which to my mind is currently at a reasonable level. The problem for many is this allied to benefit levels, child care costs etc. etc means there is no incentive to go out to work.

As regards the general point, and as you chose to respond I can only imagine you feel the cap fits, I'd suggest the quality of life in this country is good for the majority but if you don't have a reasonable job / wage it is far from good and likely to get worse in the coming years. It's quite easy for people with money to get a bit smug about this and presume those without are nothing more than a bunch of layabouts. No doubt there is an element who don't want to work but there are also people for whom it is difficult. What the country does about this I don't know because the jobs don't exist paying the levels people seem to expect and regardless of government projections are not going to be created. Those lucky enough to enjoy freedom of movement in the job market etc are usually already well established and reasonably secure in their positions.

It's a daft situation. A good pub I pass everyday has a huge billboard outside advertising for staff, it's been there for two months so I can only assume they can't find anyone at the rates offered. Now that is the employers problem. If you can't find staff at £5.80/hour the only solution is to increase the offer until it becomes attractive, I'd guess most people would describe it as market forces.

[thenodrog]

I didn't actually comment on the minimum wage which to my mind is currently at a reasonable level. The problem for many is this allied to benefit levels, child care costs etc. etc means there is no incentive to go out to work.

As regards the general point, and as you chose to respond I can only imagine you feel the cap fits, I'd suggest the quality of life in this country is good for the majority but if you don't have a reasonable job / wage it is far from good and likely to get worse in the coming years. It's quite easy for people with money to get a bit smug about this and presume those without are nothing more than a bunch of layabouts. No doubt there is an element who don't want to work but there are also people for whom it is difficult. What the country does about this I don't know because the jobs don't exist paying the levels people seem to expect and regardless of government projections are not going to be created. Those lucky enough to enjoy freedom of movement in the job market etc are usually already well established and reasonably secure in their positions.

It's a daft situation. A good pub I pass everyday has a huge billboard outside advertising for staff, it's been there for two months so I can only assume they can't find anyone at the rates offered. Now that is the employers problem. If you can't find staff at £5.80/hour the only solution is to increase the offer until it becomes attractive, I'd guess most people would describe it as market forces.

I agree with your first point Paul but I think rather than raise the min wage the problem should be addressed through a combination of reduced taxation at the lower end of the scale and reducing benefits.

btw That pubs problem is also the nations problem considering there are so many unemployed in this area. Even employed people with big mortgages and large credit card debts should seek to fill those vacancies. I wonder whether all these new fangled debt councillors ever suggest taking a second job in the evening or at weekends to their clients?

[Paul]

Yes I'd agree reduced taxation and reduced benefits would appear to work. Exactly how this is done I don't know but it seems right to me that those working hard on low wages or starting out in careers should be given an incentive to work. The 10p tax band seemed to work well and I was disappointed when the Labour government removed it. One of my sons is making his way through the reatil industry, notoriously badly paid from what I hear, he's working his backside off earning a reputation but very little hard cash. A taxation system which gave him another £2-300 / month in his pocket would make a huge difference to a young man trying hard to become a success.

As for the second point should I find myself unemployed, unlikely I hope, I already know who I would contact and what I would do. If the pub I mentioned was close to home and I was unemployed and I'd be banging the door down. As it happens the pub is located in leafy Cheshire about two miles from one of our sites, we can't get local people to work for us either, though the money is significantly above the minimum wage.

[Billy Castell]

It's all very well saying abolish benefits etc., but there need to be jobs for people to get into. At the moment there are too many people chasing too few jobs.

And those who say abolish the minimum wage simply have no clue about living on such an income. In a place like Exmouth, I'd not be able to rent out a flat the size of a shoe box on 1 minimum wage income.

It is always the smug right wingers who have had a comfortable middle of the road life that deem every unemployed person is a waster, poor people should get no money to help them etc. People like these, as well as MPs should spend some time dealing with the clowns at the Job Centre, who are as helpful as a fart in a lift, sending CVs left right and centre, applying for 100s of jobs and so on. The benefit system is all wrong, as in my experience it does not help those who want to work, who try to play by the rules however convoluted and bizarre they may be. It is an infuriating experience dealing with the red tape and regulations when you are out of work.

[broadsword]

I remember reading a statistic somewhere, not sure how accurate it is, but it seems about right.

80% of teh world's population lives on £6.80 or less a day.

I'd say that the quality of life in the UK was good, as long as you have enough money to be comfortable.

[jim mk2]

The quality of life in Britain is immeasurably better in 2010 than in 1997 thanks to Labour policies but is destined to get worse in the north over the next few years because of Tory public sector cuts and the inevitable resulting increase in unemployment. There have been reports this week that the jobs market in London is recovering almost to pre-boom levels but the rest of the country, and the north and Wales in particular, will fail to recover for many many years with sluggish or no jobs growth and widening pay and skills gap between north and south. To those who lived though the Tory misery of the 1980s this is a familiar and depressing story.

As for reducing taxation for the low paid think-tank studies have shown that the changes would help the rich far more and would actually widen the gap between the bottom and the middle earners and increase relative poverty. The only way to make the change fair and equitable would be to increase the tax rate on high earners who have become immeasurably richer during the Labour years to 75 per cent.

[broadsword]

The quality of life in Britain is immeasurably better in 2010 than in 1997 thanks to Labour policies but is destined to get worse in the north over the next few years because of Tory public sector cuts and the inevitable resulting increase in unemployment.

God, you make me lose teh will to live, you really do.

[Sandiway Blue]

The quality of life in Britain is immeasurably better in 2010 than in 1997 thanks to Labour policies but is destined to get worse in the north over the next few years because of Tory public sector cuts and the inevitable resulting increase in unemployment. There have been reports this week that the jobs market in London is recovering almost to pre-boom levels but the rest of the country, and the north and Wales in particular, will fail to recover for many many years with sluggish or no jobs growth and widening pay and skills gap between north and south. To those who lived though the Tory misery of the 1980s this is a familiar and depressing story.

As for reducing taxation for the low paid think-tank studies have shown that the changes would help the rich far more and would actually widen the gap between the bottom and the middle earners and increase relative poverty. The only way to make the change fair and equitable would be to increase the tax rate on high earners who have become immeasurably richer during the Labour years to 75 per cent.

Maybe for the long term benefit claimers (the ones that can`t be bothered to work as opposed to the ones that can`t work because of genuine reasons),but for the average working man? are you having a laugh? Thankfully the new government has stopped the shameful policy of claiming benefits as a career move and are rightfully investigating people that are claiming benefits for simply being lazy.As I have mentioned before there are about 1/2 a dozen households within a minutes walk from my house that right now are sh*tting bricks because they know they will soon have to do a decent week`s work for their money.

I was talking to a relative a couple of weeks ago who is a manager for T.N.T who told me a new employee had actally asked him for LESS hours to work as it affected what benefits he could claim!

I`m actally staggered that people can defend the last government when they let things like this happen and then wonder why they will have bugger all of a pension,and will have to work to the age of 68 to claw back all the money the last government drained from the coffers!