Slashdot Mirror
UK Government To Spy On Computers of the Jobless
An anonymous reader writes "Jobseekers will be offered the chance to look for work through the new Universal Jobmatch website, which automatically pairs them up with opportunities that suit their skills after scanning their CVs. It will also allow employers to search for new workers among the unemployed and send messages inviting them to interviews. However, their activities may also be tracked using cookies, so their Job Centre advisers know how many searches they have been doing and whether they are turning down viable opportunities. Iain Duncan-Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the scheme would 'revolutionize' the process of looking for work. He said anyone without a job after signing up to the scheme would be lacking 'imagination.'"
I appreciate that the headline just copies that of the original article, but I really do expect better of Slashdot. (I know, I know, I must be new here.)
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Is this using a new definition of spying that I'm not aware of? Tracking sure but spying is a bit dramatic.
I just can't be bothered.
There's an opinion on-line that the UK is turning in to some sort oppressive totalitarian state. It seems like this summary was written with this view in mind. It makes a number of errors of omission.
The article says it's opt-in! It only applies to that web-site too. That's obviously a huge omission to make from the summary. The summary seems to imply that the government would snoop on all traffic of a job-seeker and it was mandatory.
Finally, people who are claiming Job Seekers allowance are requesting support from the government while they look for a job. It's not totalitarian to suggest that we ensure that they are actually looking for a job!
As a taxpayer and a liberal democrat, it's something I support!
Yhea, same in the Netherlands. 1 job application per week or no welfare. Problem is you are not allowed to apply/take just any job. If you are let's say nuclear physicist and you apply to work as auto-mechanic, they tell you "you should find a job suited for you background, money has been invested in your education" Which is fine and dandy but there are NO 4 open positions per month for nuclear physicist. So?
From free market point of view I do not understand this at all. If a company X can get overqualified person for the announced salary, isn't that good for the company? There are no laws that regulate the salaries in the private sector. You get more performance for the same buck! Maybe that person wants to stop doing nuclear physics. Maybe there are really no jobs and he/she is so desperate that they want that job never mind the over qualification..also the tech jobs went East but we are not allowed to work anything else. So become permanently unemployed or die (the former eventually leads to the latter anyway)? What other options are there?
This whole shit has to stop but the only way I see is total rebuild of the socioeconomic model of Homo Sapiens. Fat chance...
I meant that more related to the government knowing how many searches one did, which is a joke compared to other countries. I was once unemployed for three weeks in Ireland, went to the office, filled in a form and got a check end of each week. No questions asked to a maximum of six months, I think. This is a model I would support, no stress and within six months people should be able to find another job.
in Germany jobless people have to report any application for a job to the agency and they have to apply for a certain amount of jobs per month or they get no welfare. Still people say it is not enough and unemployed people should be a workforce of the government to clean parks etc. -.-
Sounds like common sense to me. I just wish governments had enough backbone to actually do stuff like that.
Whenever you create a system which covers people's basic needs without asking anything in return you'll create a bunch of people who'll take what's offered then dedicate their free time to wheeling and dealing for beer money (usually doing 'easy money' stuff which is detrimental to society...)
Why would anybody try to get a proper job when they can live like that?
No sig today...
Which is fine and dandy but there are NO 4 open positions per month for nuclear physicist. So?
Move to Iran or North Korea?
It can sound like common sense but as with many thing the devil is in the detail.
Consider cleaning parks for example. That's going to be a local council responsibility in the UK but in many cases the council probably contract it out to a private company. So within the current framework, if people on benefits are made to do the work then the private enterprise is getting the money for the contract but has lower labour costs. Who becomes the parasite then?
In principle I have no objection to people on benefits having to carry out some civic function but I am very opposed to any private enterprise profiting as a result. That's why I am opposed to the current UK Workfare scheme. It's not creating jobs; it's just allowing private enterprise to get free labour, in effect making them government subsidised. If they're getting taxpayer funded labour, then I as a taxpayer should get a vote at their AGM.
If you are let's say nuclear physicist and you apply to work as auto-mechanic, they tell you "you should find a job suited for you background, money has been invested in your education" Which is fine and dandy but there are NO 4 open positions per month for nuclear physicist. So?
The problem is that a nuclear physicist can't get hired anywhere. Human resources tend to have the policy that they should hire only people who qualify precisely for the job. If they are too good, then it's assumed they will get bored and leave in no time.
I read about some guy in the newspaper. He owned a company which died due to the financial situation. After that he applied for more than 4000 jobs and has been rejected for everything. He asked quite a number of those places to give a reason for the rejection and they all stated he was overqualified.
"Whenever you create a system which covers people's basic needs without asking anything in return you'll create a bunch of people who'll take what's offered then dedicate their free time to wheeling and dealing for beer money (usually doing 'easy money' stuff which is detrimental to society...)"
Um...
In my state, unemployment is an INSURANCE program that you pay into when you are working. You can only collect if you have paid into it. And you ALSO have to fulfill certain requirements, such as applying for a certain number of jobs per week and turning in those records so they can check up on you.
When I was unemployed there were so many companies using New Deal to get basically slave labour. Such delights as a 26-week "training course" that involved 35 hours a week of night shifts for £10 a week on top of your JSA... to qualify to be a forecourt attendant... Basically the company getting someone to do the graveyard shifts for a pittance who couldn't afford to quit or they'd be reported for non-compliance and lose ALL their benefits.
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
Fair enough if you don't want to be a street cleaner or janitor... But why then should the government (ie the rest of us taxpayers) give you free money?
If you don't want to do an unpleasant job, then you should find yourself a better one, you should have no right to simply sit on your ass at the expense of everyone else until the perfect job comes along. Instead work hard at your unpleasant job and perhaps study part time so you can learn something better.
People in other countries have it far worse, in many places the government won't do anything for you at all if you haven't got a job, so your choice is between picking up trash from the street or having to sleep among that trash.
Incidentally, picking up trash isn't that bad of a job... You get gloves, a stick with a grabbing claw on the end, brushes etc so it's not like you actually have to get covered in filth. You just walk around pushing a trashcan on wheels, and any trash you see you pick up with your claw and put in the trashcan. You even get a sense of satisfaction because the streets look a lot better when they aren't covered in trash.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
From free market point of view I do not understand this at all. If a company X can get overqualified person for the announced salary, isn't that good for the company?
Usually no. I don't know about Germany but in the US a statistic I have heard from more than one HR type is that employees usually cost an average of 120% of there normal annual compensation in the first year. This is due to fees with off cycle benefits enrollment, lost productivity of others while they train you for the company/job specific aspects of the position, anything else the company might offer like covering moving expenses, etc.
New employees at just about any level beyond cleaner or mail room typically represent some level of investment (that added 20%) and its looked at that way rather than just as a pure labor expense, regardless of how the accounting is done. Over qualified folks are generally looking for a better opportunity elsewhere from the moment they arrive. Even if they do great work they are likely to be out the door as soon as they can. The company is then going to have to hire someone new at 120% cost.
So from the perspective of many employees a correctly qualified person is a better investment. They will get more years out of them that way doing job they need done now, and if the company is growing perhaps they can manage to make the position grow at around the same rate the individual does which results in better economy for both parties.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
If you pay taxes for 20 years then need a hand paying for bills for a few months, getting 50 / week back out of those 20 years taxes does not equal "free money".
Studying part time for certified courses costs money as well. Studying using free resources either requires access to the internet (costs money for net connection) or libraries (government seems to be closing them down, our local one isn't open on Saturdays any more, means no parent and child reading sessions if the parent is in work....).
You don't get money for no labor on any job, why should a guaranteed safety net be labor-free?
Because it is cheaper to pay them a pittance to keep them out of trouble than it is to lock them in prison if they start trying to steal food.
I dont read
>new trade with guaranteed job prospects
>Most people are perfectly capable of building up a 6 month emergency fund
>Anyone is going to get a job should be able to get it in 3 months
I see you're from the "get into your job cannon and fire off into job land" persuasion.
In the real world it's quite common for a person to do nothing but apply for jobs online (a thousand candidates per application) and offline (fifty candidates per application) for months with no response from anyone, not even a "thank you for applying."
In Michigan a few years ago I applied at every gas station, fast food place, and grocery store in my town. I also sent a targeted application with a crafted resume and cover letter out every day and untargeted ones to hundreds of companies a week. not a single fucking bite. No my resume didn't suck, no I'm not insane, on drugs, or a felon.
Sometimes the jobs just aren't there.
There's nothing more humiliating and painful than offering yourself and being rejected ten times a day. Go through the same experience and you'll have a lot more understanding and compassion for the unemployed.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Most EU countries got two systems, unemployment (typically limited in time and only available to the previously employed) and welfare (typically lower in amount but available to all who qualify by their need). It is NOT that easy to get kicked out of wellfare because it is after all meant to be a safety net to prevent people from sliding into absolute poverty.
The whole getting the unemployed to work is however a bit of a sham. For instance it has been revealed that programs to get mothers working COST more then they deliver. If it costs 100k to get a person to work for 40k, that is just pointless really. It looks nice in employment statistics but basically the state is subsidizing the employer and the state is you the taxpayer.
And if moms who work can't volunteer anymore at school and the school now has to hire people to do those tasks, you are even deeper in the red. And if they got to send their kids to subsidized daycare so they can work, that is even more money down the drain.
Always suspect government figures on this subject. The idea to get the unemployed cleaning parks for instance sounds fun. Who is going to pay for all the hardware needed? Transportation? Supervising?
It is often just really cheaper to have people sit at home on a minimum income. Not nice but if you want nice, stay out of politics.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
A4e, The AA, Accident Helpline, Acorn Computer Recycling (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Age Concern, Alpha Stream, Argos, Asda, Asian Star Community Radio LTD, ATS, Barnardos, BHS – British Home Stores [1], Blue Arrow, Bookers Wholesale, Boots, Bournemouth City Council, B&Q, British Heart Foundation, BT, Burger King – claim to have pulled out, Burton, Carillion, Capability Scotland, Close Protection UK, DB Accident Repair, DC Cleaning Sussex, Debenhams, Diamond Glass Medway, Dorothy Perkins [1], Dunelm Mill (also personal testimony, Nov 2012), Envirostream, Evans [1], Finsbury Park Business Forum, FP Mailing [Source: Interview with Director, LBC Radio 27/6/12], F&S Interiors, Go Response, Helen & Douglas House Hospice – Maidenhead, HMRC, HMV [3], Holiday Inn – claim to have pulled out, Holland & Barrett – claim to have pulled out, Grosvenor Casinos, Haven House Children’s Hospice, Hilton Hotels, JA Glover, Jessup Electrical Wholesale Ltd, JJ Vickers & Sons Ltd, Kennedy Scott, Kent Flooring Supplies, Kent Space, Kingston Community Furniture (MWA, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Marriot Hotels, Maplin – have tweeted that they have withdrawn, awaiting statement, Matalan, Mayhem Paintball, McDonald’s, Medway Council, Medway Tyres, Miss Selfridge – claim were never involved, Mr Gleam – Sussex – claim were never involved, Newham Council, Newhaven Community Development, Olympic Glass, Omnico Plastics Ltd, Outfit [1], Payless, PDSA (several sources including personal testimony of MWA, Nov 2012), Pizza Hut, Plumbase, Poundland, Poundstretcher, PPDG, Primark, Process Plant Services Ltd, Quality Savers, RBLI, Refurb project (MWA, personal testimont, Dec 2012), Regency Guillotine, Richmond Fellowship, Romney Resource Kent, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Note they have made 50-60 staff redundant in each of the last 3 years), Royal Mail, RNR Performance Cars, Saffron Acres Project, Sage UK, Salvation Army, Savers, SERCO, Scope, Scout Enterprises, Sense (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), SERCO, Servest, London, SHOC Slough Homeless, Shoe Zone, Signs & Imaging Ltd, Sixhills Aquatics (Work experience, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Slough Library, Slough Furniture Project, Southern Membranes Ltd, Southern Metal Services, Southern Roofing & Building Supplies, Storie Argyll Ltd, Stephens Fresh Food, St Oswald’s Hospice shops (MWA placements, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Sue Ryder, Superdrug, Swan Lifeline – Windsor, Tate Recruitment, Tesco, Timbermills, Toni & Guy, Topman [1], Topshop [1], The Range, The Conservation Volunteers, Town and Country Cleaners Kent, Wallis [1], WD Close & Sons, Westvic Enamellers, Wetherspoons, WHSmith, Whittingtons Silk Flower & Plant Centre, Wilkinsons, The Works, YMCA (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012)
Tens of thousands of unemployed people made to work without pay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/15/thousands-unemployed-work-without-pay
Latest Workfare statistics: (15 Feb 2012)
http://www.consent.me.uk/statistics/
References:
[1] Arcadia Group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/03/waterstones-ends-unpaid-work-placements
[2] Asda, Tesco, Tussauds Group, WHSmith, Royal Mail, Greggs
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmpubacc/uc1814-i/uc181401.htm