Skint not Idle: Carol & Ruje’s Story
In this short report, two friends explain their situation. Carol has been living on benefits for five years and talks about the difficulties of surviving on so little money. Recent university graduate Ruje Yasmin sums ups the prospects facing many university leavers today: qualified, in debt and jobless. As Carol and Ruje’s stories show, perhaps the problem of unemployment is less about an unqualified workforce, living on benefits or low pay and rather a case of a lack of jobs.
Recommended links:
- Article by David Conn: The jobless are no shirking scroungers – you try living on £65.45 a week
- Article by Patrick Hayes: This is a waste of youthful potential
Related topics: Economy, Social Change
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John Arthur said:
I think invalidity benefits does make people needy victims and thousands of people accross the country have been made incapable of working by a system that can’t deliver enough jobs which cater for people having a few health problems. Many people with physical health problems can still answer the phone, get on line and do all sorts so I don’t accept that we really have this nation of incapable invalids . I think we have a sick sytem that can’t facilitate what people are capable of and finds it easier mark them out as hopeless and dependent on hand outs. This then makes people hopeless and helpless and makes them believe they can’t work.
Doddy said:
It’s a shame that Ruje has studied soo hard to end up doing little part-time menial jobs just to survive.
Don’t know how Carol survives. Its disgusting that people are made to live like this. It’s not their faults, Ruje WANTS to work and Carol CAN’T. There are too many people in the same situation and it just isn’t good enough.