Grey Collar Jobs
Many people talk of the eighties and how monumentally
frustrating and dismal times were back then, but has anyone took a look at the
state the country is in lately? In Teesside more specifically under its cold
post-industrial landscape, the last three years in government have offered
little or no benefit to the area. We are in the wake of a near triple dip
recession, where 14.4% of Middlesbrough's population are unemployed. Where
taxes are hitting those already struggling families twice as hard. Announcing
more cuts on benefits, public sector redundancies and the newly introduced
bedroom tax. Furthermore job opportunities are scarce with eighteen people to
every vacancy in Middlesbrough. Those who are qualified with a degree try hard
to find work, unskilled workers struggle to find steady employment and those without
qualifications face an unpromising future.
It is considered cliché' to point the blame at Margaret
Thatcher and her Tory cabinet for the current state the country is in, but
being from Middlesbrough I can't help but make this distinction myself. During
the 1970s the then Labour government strictly regulated capitalism and made it
serve for the common good. Although some people who lived it often talk of
three day week and curse Wilson something rotten. By 1978 the standard of
living rose by 6.4% proving that his stance on taxation did better conditions
for the working classes. Under Thatcher's Tory reign the country faced grim
domestic policies (ultimately ghettoising communities) the country experienced
two recessions, the derailment of British industry, double digit interest
rates, axed unions and mass privatisation. After the Lawson boom, consumerist
spending was on the up and up and deregulation had made the market free to do
more than it was previously capable of.
We were taught that greed is good, that power lies with the
individual, not with society and that capitalism helps economic growth, but
arguably capitalism has only brought us so far and with better party politics
and a change of ideology we may reach a better outcome. The bottom 10% of
earners in the United Kingdom is feeling the pinch now more than ever. A single
parent with two children needs to earn around £16,000 pounds a year to house,
feed and clothe their children. As you probably guessed £16,000 a year is
higher than the minimum wage affords a low income worker. And with cuts on
benefits and tax cuts for the new rich it seems things will only get worse for
this country before things get better.
Now things get
personal...
From personal experience, I believed my state education was
quite simply a joke. Not that Blair didn't try, he tried his best to better the
standards of healthcare and education in this country but obviously my example
didn't follow and later in his career, his flaws became more obvious. I
experienced bullying because of my appearance (namely long hair) and baseball
shoes (which is ironically common nowadays) with no coercion from school
authorities even after a number of complaints and serious incidents.
Attending Gillbrook Technology College was like visiting an
untamed zoo on a daily basis, people hanging from the rafters, looting and
abusing, they were proud fractured souls of a lost generation. The teachers
swore by the text book and were often red faced and spiteful which was just as
equally incomprehensible, it was the mental equivalent of visiting a hospice
after being prescribed ketamine, every day. The school was so hopeless in fact;
it was nearly closed twice by Ofsted after their preliminary inspections during
2005. They were then in special
measures an Official Ofsted report sent to their then newly appointed head
teacher stated the following 'GCSE results in 2005 were well below the national
average and similar to those of the previous year. The school failed to meet
its targets and given their starting points, pupils underachieved'.
Shortly after obtaining my average GCSE results I enrolled
for college but my trust in education was almost non-existent after studying
art and media for a short time, I dropped out to find work and play my music
after we received some modest radio play. Of course finding work isn't an easy
task for a teenager with no previous experience and in fact I'd rarely receive
a reply on application. Once I turned eighteen I signed on the dole with no
concept of what unemployment was going to be like, the days turned into several
months and the depression settled in thereafter. The sense of hopelessness is
ever present, you look around to see old weathered faces and you get to
thinking, you too could be here forever. The realisation hits you like a mallet
to the cranium, the cynical attitude, the smell of alcohol in the air, the
damned. Advisors offer you the illusion of hope but these people don't do
anything for you, the meaningless job search reviews, the clinical house where
they push you into a corner and paste a label on your forehead
"choose" your career 'administrator' 'receptionist' 'call centre
agent' 'bartender' 'waitress' 'labourer'. When your course for education is
over, you’re thrown into the world with no consideration, no understanding for
what aims you have or what you intend to be. You are what you work and nothing
more, you're a consumer, now consume! This kind of alienation is hard to deal
with and the younger you are the more naive you're supposed to be. I spoke to
so many people, some of my closest friends who all experienced the same gloom,
we felt isolated and sobriety only acted as a cold reminder that every day was
just as long and pitiful as the last.
However what I find increasingly concerning is that people's
preconceptions on unemployment are mostly completely bias. Perceptions fed to
them from inaccurate articles courtesy of The Daily Mail and shoddy portrayals
on television dramas seen on Channel 4's Shameless. It’s a sad fact that people
actually believe everyone on the dole WANTS TO BE I mean the notion is ridiculous.
Of course there are some claimants exploiting the benefit system but half of
these critics have never experienced such sorrowful lows. The fact is it’s not
so easy to get a job these days, the strange underlining criteria, the
cross-examining, the marginal group interviews, what happens if you're too
polite? You don't want to talk over people; you would consider that to be rude.
The endless online applications, the thirty page forms to fill in and post, the
harassment you must subject to someone over the phone in order to receive basic
feedback on your face to face interview, it’s not just.
In the eventuality you are enlisted successfully you are
groomed to work these jobs for as long as possible, if you work hard enough
there may be room for promotion they say. But in fact even if you are promoted
your standard of living is hardly improved. Grey collar jobs, it’s all there is
for the young, unemployed and modestly educated in Great Britain. Temporary job
placements ran by alien agencies that exist for only a number of years,
companies cutting their losses and cashing in their chips. The lower middle
class pen pusher job, for the lower income salary. Receptionists, support
workers, health care assistants, administrators, clerks, sales representatives,
bar managers these roles are increasingly being governed by private
organisations and yet they're always finding ways to cut corners, reduce
turnovers and it never pays. We are groomed to work these jobs, the jobs more
fortunate people will never have to work and we're taught the hard way it’s
either £51 a week or adhere! In 2013 £51 a week doesn't get you very far at all
as I'm sure anyone would agree. In fact I struggle to understand how a single
parent would pay child support and manage to eat themselves on such a budget.
The answer...
The answer quite simply is investment, investment in
creating jobs to stabilise the future of the United Kingdom. These alarming
statistics only instil the need to do so, it should be clear by now that the
conservative party only work in the best interests of the rich in this country,
keeping the big swingers happy and home, cutting the mansion tax, leaving the
working men and women of this country to pay the bigger price. The north east
is desperate for investment in education, housing, energy and industry which
would stimulate the community and would lay the foundations for a brighter
future ahead. After working for an anonymous sales company for over a year I
realised how much people were abusing the system. In sales you come to see
through the smoke and mirrors, the illegalities, the masked money laundering
you come to realise tax evasion is everywhere and no one in that position wants
anyone to know. Call centre work is very popular for the young and jobless, it’s
also terrible for both your physical and mental health, aspirations are
hampered, dignity is quashed you’re left with little hope in finding a new job
working unsociable hours such as the 10 to 7 shift. A flux within Britain’s industry
would stimulate both the economy and the public creating equal opportunities
for those who wish to act on them.
By Ryan D Welsh
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