There's nothing more grating than televisual drooling where the privileged or the lucky tell the populace that "there's lots of opportunities out there". Especially during a crisis.These are strange days indeed.
You get University Minister David Willetts coming up with the remark that "if you can't find a job then you should consider setting up your own business".
Channel Four News choosing to discuss youth unemployment and the labour market not with entrepreneurs, or the unions, or directly with the jobless, but with no less than the winner of TV show The Apprentice, as if he was an authority on the matter...
Said winner of The Apprentice coolly remarking that he "totally believe[s]" in David Willett's words and that the millions who are stuck in post-graduate unemployment or call centre work forget that "there's lots of opportunities out there" and there's "no need for doom'n'gloom", because - remember - we all live in a "knowledge economy", of course.
So the question is: if this is how the real world ticks, then why stop at The Apprentice? If national news broadcasters have got to discuss youth/graduate unemployment and the Blairite legacy of bullshit expectations, why not go the whole hog and invite a Big Brother contestant like Chantelle or Chanelle? Or, even better, a Lottery winner?
They could dish up even more rose-tinted patronising advice and inform the wider public that there's no need for "despondency", because "opportunities" are rife.
And then maybe David Cameron should follow suit and pass a law that makes playing the lottery compulsory.
7 comments:
I agree, yet at the same time I have to ask - how many are jobless not because they're under-qualified, but because they believe themselves overqualified for the jobs on offer? The "I didn't get a 2:1 in art history to pick litter from the streets" type?
And then maybe David Cameron should follow suit and pass a law that makes playing the lottery compulsory.
Well, the Tories pledged to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 Million, which has a similar effect.
how many are jobless not because they're under-qualified, but because they believe themselves overqualified for the jobs on offer?
No doubt there is a number of those. Still though a quick look around will reveal that all that The Great University Swindle of the Blair years achieved was a generation of shop assistants and telemarketeers educated at degree level.
@FlipC
Ironically enough, a few years ago I was refused work in a factory because I have A-levels "and might leave". That wasn't their exact words but it was the insinuation behind it... so there's always another side of the story. I went back to signing on and to further the irony got a job in another factory a few weeks later.
It's a total myth that it's so easy to find work, people don't realise until they are on the dole in direct competition with 1000s of other people in the same boat just how damn hard it is.
[/rantover]
ps good to see you back Claude!
I couldn't agree more with the original post!
It doesn't matter what qualifications you have the job market is tough.
But the idea that everyone has the interest or the skills to set up their own business is just stupid.
Thanks S.The Pill :-)
By the way I totally agree with your comment.
I'm not saying it's not tough, the majority of my family have at one point or another been out of work.
For most the job they next picked up was well under what they were qualified for, yet it kept the money coming in and they continued to look for something more 'appropriate'. Which amusingly underscores Mr.S.Pill's experience as when they found one they left.
All I'm asking is - if you have a big pie that represents available jobs, and you split that pie into 'jobs I can do' and 'jobs I can't' how many further split the one portion down into 'jobs I'm prepared to do' then wave that around as an indicator of how tough the job market is for them?
How many state "I'll do anything" until you present them with the offer of something they don't want to do?
IOW While I'm happy to tear apart the "There's jobs for all" concept due to personal experience, I've got to treat the opposite in the same manner and for the same reasons.
As for the 'hey just start your own business' yes I agree those presenting that argument need a smack from the reality stick.
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