Finding work

[mlteenie]

Hmmm....

So how are people coping without work? I was lucky enough to be covered by the SEISS but many weren't.

Both my main streams of income are gone for the foreseeable (namely music and cycle-related).

It seems like there will be enormous competition for any work that might be available.

What the hell do we do?

[JohnL]

Businesses still need people (if the businesses can survive and that's what the government need to try and ensure). I remember the early 1980s recession and to me that seemed much worse than anything that came after due to the mass unemployment from old industries - it felt hopeless at the time but by 1987 there was a boom.

The rich, astute or lucky businesses (or those with contacts) will be buying up the rest now I guess - just as some of us imagined would happen after Brexit.

What I mean is life will continue and we will bounce back :)

[bidvid]

It is really grim. I'm an artist and I work making props and doing installations for companies. I am not picky about work but because most of my experience is practical rather than administrative there is very little work about.

I have been out of work since the end of March. I had a couple of interviews but between interviewing and a follow up the job disappeared because the companies' situations were precarious.

I guess all you need to do is apply, apply, apply.

GOOD LUCK!

I took a big leap of faith and am putting on an art show currently at Jeannie Avent Gallery (till the 14th). It has been nice to see people out and about in East Dulwich and appreciating being able to go into Art Galleries again. Hopefully, I'll sell some work too!

[mlteenie]

I remember the 80s recession too, but I hadn't left homeat its peak. I think this may end up being just as bad but in different ways. It will pass, but like then, at a price. People can't afford to wait, unfortunately.

Things will be grim.

[Blah Blah]

The 80s were a terrible time that led to generational unemployment and a lot of laid off people that never worked again. What happens when the economy contracts with an abundance of available labour? Wages fall, certain groups of people become unemployable, and the welfare bill goes up. So yes, the government has to protect as many jobs as possible but it also is facing the deepest possible impacts of Brexit if there is no deal, and Tory governments have never been great at protecting the worst impacted before (squeezing the poorest and baiting working people against them for example), so why should we expect anything different this time?

If I were them, I would do as much as possible now to protect what already exists, and moving forward, look at ways at supporting others into self employment (with grants, low interest loans and mentoring), training and education. And that needs to be a programme of investments for ALL ages, not just young people. Similarly, I would also argue for better support for small business, better support for home grown innovation and talent, along with the usual international incentives to being jobs to the UK. It is going to need ALL of those things to redirect the economy as quickly as possible.

My concern is that investment is primarily aimed at infrastructure, with the same handful of government favoured business pals getting the lucrative contracts. The expectation that if you build a highway, private enterprise will follow is no longer true. We've been relying on that idea for the last 40 years and we have been simply left with disenfranchised regions. There needs to be a radical change of approach, one that invests in people (over concrete) and incentivises employers to do so also.

[JohnL]

IT and Telecoms seem to be OK with the projects going on - I'm surprised so many people abandoned these areas as a career 10 to 15 years ago leaving older skilled workers and no real new entrants to the sector. People underestimate the work involved in just removing Huawei from the network if the government decides to do this.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/13/bt-boss-warns-of-outages-and-security-risks-if-uk-ditches-huawei