Friday 16 August 2013

On the barriers to employment...

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And something of a reminder. But first those barriers:

  1. The workings of the welfare system (the ‘benefits trap’), where wages were lower than what could be received from out of work benefits.
  2. The low status and low levels of pay of some jobs, making them ‘hard to fill’.
  3. A ‘soft’ skills deficit amongst the local workforce ... particularly around motivation, punctuality, reliability and absenteeism
No real surprises there. We know this about employment and have known it for years. Anyone who has worked with people trying to help people into work knows all about these barriers.

So that reminder.

The report looked at the role of migrant workers in the labour markets of Bristol and Hull. It found that in these two cities the arrival of migrants had not created a barrier to the long term unemployed finding a job.

So will someone please tell me why we keep blaming immigrants for our employment problems?

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