A life on benefits is not a life

After leaving school I spent a year on unemployment benefits, a year nearly to the day before getting a job. Getting the job was wonderful. I had self-esteem again and felt a hell of a lot better about myself, I had value to the world. However, there was difficulty making ends meet because it was less than minimum pay. 

I've also seen members of my own family live their lives on state benefits. There wasn't a role model to follow for us, there wasn't an understanding of how the world worked. They were capable and able to work, but didn't want to, they became institutionalized into the benefits system. I like to think some of this is because there has never been enough support to help unemployed and unconfident individuals back into work. There was no careers advice or a gentle guiding hand from the state, there was no encouragement or a discussion of options, but money was taken from the state to get by. Once I left school I was on my own and it was down to me to learn what the big bad world was really like. It was tough and I know living of benefits is not a life.

 As the years have passed the benefits system now has changed.   Too many people were in the situation of living their life endlessly and screwing the system, not contributing into it and just constantly taking out. Not paying taxes, not being part of society, living on subsistence levels, being ignorant and accepting they will continue in poverty for the rest of their life. The welfare state system was meant as a temporary safety net, not as a permanent solution and the constant strain now sees the UK in the place it is today. Those who are elderly, too young or sick either mentally or physically have reason to be on benefits, those who are able and capable should be working and in tandem to this there should be a universal career guidance and education system so career change is an option not an exception. After all it is pretty boring doing the same thing over and over again. The value of generalising and adapting knowledge has never been overtly imbred and accepted by successive governments. It's a shame for had it, this country would be a better place.

Employers are equally to blame.They do not train staff, do not have adult educational systems in place and expect employees to be job ready and productive from day one. Those potential employees who could run businesses and have the smarts but don't have the qualifications or the encouragement are passed on by. Whilst the arrogant, pompous likes of employees who went to private schools and education have continuous doors open to them, even if it is just in their ability to hold a conversation. Yet as with governments, such individuals are proven to do the walk but not actually fit do the job when they are in place. Further this can be witnessed in any workplace, it doesn't take much of a cursory glance to find dead wood or incompetent wood which has decayed inside out and is just waiting for the retirement clock to tick by.

It's not just about opportunities, but opportunities are right up there with qualifications, verbal literacy, self-confidence, both capability and ability. It's about living a life and a life on the dole is not a life for anyone.