Interesting developments in Australia:
Tony Abbott, Australia's prime minister, has unveiled strict measures to force welfare recipients to work for their benefits, including requiring them to make 40 job applications a month and perform 25 hours a week of community work.
Facing accusations he is demonising the unemployed, Mr Abbott said the expanded "work for the dole" scheme would reduce welfare dependency.
Not everyone is happy!
Is anyone in Stephen Harper's office listening?!?
Want to Stay on Unemployment? Work for it! - Small Dead Animals
It's a joke.
Yes, there are many people milking the system and getting money to sit on their azz and doing nothing, but this new measure is foolish.
You can only get unemployment money if you apply for 40 jobs a month and then also work 25 hours a week of community work?
25 Hours a week is a part time job.... but without pay.
Then on top of that you're supposed to look for 40 different jobs, fill out applications and resumes for each of those jobs and eventually attend those up to 40 job interviews in between working 25 hours a week for free??
For starters, I know the public transit system here in Melbourne isn't friggin cheap.
Secondly, if I look on the job banks here in Melbourne for jobs in my field (Graphic Design), there are currently 63 jobs listed within Melbourne. About 50% of those are in certain branches of Graphic Design that I have no experience in or am not qualified for (Fashion, Packaging, etc.) and would have a hard time getting my foot in the door despite being at a Senior Level of GD.
Then another large chunk of of those jobs are for entry level graphic design with too low a pay and for people just getting out of college / school..... therefore I'm over qualified.
The last time I looked for a job before I got this one, there was about 8 jobs I could actually get and half of those were on the other side of the city, which would mean I would have to wake and leave hours before I had to be there and then spend a crap tonne of money on the transit system for a job that barely covered my living expenses.
And that list of jobs doesn't magically repopulate with another 60 new jobs every few days. You'd typically see 2-3 new jobs pop into that list every 1.5 weeks.
That then forces you to go look for some sh*t part time job at a grocery store that would only cover half of your living expenses and then be forced to work another sh*t part time job to cover the rest of your expenses..... I'm sure many people in here have been in that boat before at one time or another. If you haven't, then you may not realize exactly how hard it is to find the time and money to find a better job to break out of that vicious cycle.
The living costs here in Melbourne are insane. For a half-decent, non-roach infested, non-ghetto place to live you're looking at around $350-450 a week or more..... not a month like back in Nova Scotia..... a WEEK. No utilities or anything else included and you gotta bring your own washer, fridge, etc.
When I left Nova Scotia, I was renting a 2 bedroom apartment (quite nice place actually) for $725 a month. Heath, Hot Water, Fridge, Stove, Laundry, etc. all included.
Now I'm paying about $1400 a month for just the walls and roof.
Want to buy a house?
You better be ready to shell out around $500,000 for a small pokey little old building. Plus gas, electricity, water, and so on on top of all that.
http://www.domain.com.au/property/for-sale/house/vic/endeavour-hills/?adid=2011327766&sp=5
^ Check out this little beauty. Minimum of $340,000.
Most places that are semi-decent and a bit more "Modern" are up to a $1 million or more.
I understand wanting to make it harder for free loaders to get free money for nothing and it's a problem many countries have to deal with, but this plan Abbott is tossing out there is completely unrealistic and makes things next to impossible for those who actually want to get a job and get out of the rut they're in.
Your payout has a maximum and the time frame is limited in terms of how long you can receive said 'pre-payments'.
Excepting a circumstance of getting on pogey annually, there is little chance that you would ever be able to collect the value of your contributions.
... That's a pretty skewed 'insurance' plan
Indeed... when I had to go on EI between jobs back in Canada, I had to jump through hoops just to get "My Money" I paid out to them and even then they limited how much of "My Money" I was allowed per week and set out specific conditions for me to be eligible for "My Money"
I certainly didn't get back everything I put into it and when it was up, it was up.
I don't know how they do things in Australia, but I pay mandatory premiums towards EI here. Should I require it, it had better damn well be available. It's insurance, it's not welfare.
Go between jobs and then try and apply for that EI..... you're going to be in for a surprise in regards to how much BS you have to go through and even more surprised on how much they actually give back to you and for how long.
