Younger people and their thoughts about working

MissAdventure

If anyone thinks that they're handed money to top up part time earnings, they will be in for a surprise.

The job centre's mission is to get people working full time, and to make it difficult not to.

Agreed, but until she ups her hours she could get this help if she meets the conditions. This would be help with rent and council tax.
Has this young woman got any health conditions, because if she cut her hours without good cause and did it voluntarily it may affect her claim.
I don't think we know enough about why this woman made that desition.

Yes, that's my point.
The dwp won't just give people money indefinitely. (My predictive text wrote that they won't give monkeys!)

rafichagran

MissAdventure

If anyone thinks that they're handed money to top up part time earnings, they will be in for a surprise.

The job centre's mission is to get people working full time, and to make it difficult not to.

Agreed, but until she ups her hours she could get this help if she meets the conditions. This would be help with rent and council tax.
Has this young woman got any health conditions, because if she cut her hours without good cause and did it voluntarily it may affect her claim.
I don't think we know enough about why this woman made that desition.

Or about how much she earns, or about how part time her hours actually are, before jumping in to judge her. For all we know, she may be working 4 days a week and earning more for that than some earn for full time hours?

I'm not judging her at all.
I'm judging those judging her.

Mel1967

I don’t think that it’s anyone’s business, but her own.
There is more to life than work.

If she’s claiming benefits it’s everyone’s business.

I've said before that I know people (friends' children) who don't want to work more hours as 'it will affect their UC'. They are young mothers at the start of their careers, but is that any different from doctors (or anyone on over £100k) going part time as the tax system works against them and they have maxed out their pensions though? I don't know, really.

There are many ways that it can pay not to work, but at the same time, there are many people who do work very hard and get little back - particularly the single and childless. Tax credits are responsible for a lot of this unfairness at the lower end of the financial scale, and tax scales and cut offs on things like child benefit and childcare allowances at the higher end.

The pension part of NI is paid if you don't work and have children, but not if you don't work and are childless. Child benefits are now going to disadvantage dual income families who are already paying two lots of tax between them, in order to benefit single earner families who only pay once. There is a cut-off for help with childcare, which costs those on high incomes a lot, despite their paying high rates of tax. Pension credit is paid if you don't have enough credits to get a full pension, even when you've had payments made for you when your children were at school, whilst those who did juggle children and work struggle without all the gateway benefits PC brings with it. Everyone benefits from things like education, health and infrastructure whether or not they pay tax, so what's the incentive if you aren't going to earn a lot, or you have reached the point where your earnings are so highly taxed that you make virtually nothing for working an extra day or two to take you to full time?

But what can we do about it? We can't take back education or have old people sleeping on the streets with no food because they have no pension. We could refuse healthcare to those without enough contributions, but who would want to live in a society like that?

I really think that we need to reconsider how best to restructure the way we exact taxes and deliver benefits of all types, particularly as AI is going to cut the number of people needed in the workforce. Currently the burden falls mainly on those who work, and it is galling for them to see those who don't get given the things that workers have to pay for, whether that is a pension, social care or whatever. At the same time, unless people in work are paid more than they would get if they didn't, I can't blame them for cutting their hours, whether they are consultants or cleaners.

pascal30

I think another factor could be worry about her future given the state of the world and predictions of climate change.. not a nice situation for young people.. we have definitely enjoyed a safe life up til now and probably can't fully comprehend the anxieties of being young today..

Have you forgotten the Cold War?

So many suppositions and quite a lot of critics ...

1. We don't know how much she earns, it may be enough.

2. It's possible she feels so stressed that its a better alternative than medium or long term sick. (10% of all long term sickness is MH/emotional stress)

3. She's still young - she could change her mind in a year or so. She might change career.

So- unwilling to fully comment without knowing more.

Of course we have enjoyed a 'safe' life.

Born in London during the war, father involved in the Korean War. The Bay of Pigs, the Berlin blockade, Russians in tanks rolling into Budapest in 1956 and Czechslovakia in 1968. We were in Yugoslavia at the time and the fear that gripped everyone that the Russians would just continue on into Yugoslavia.

My parents born just before WW1, my mother growing up fatherless because he died in the war. Growing up into WW2 and then all of the above.

If you lived in the 20th century life was a doddle, no fears of existential anihilation

I posted earlier that decisions about working are a private matter with the proviso that you have to pay your own way and put a roof over your own head( so no nominating the State or other people (whether they like it or not) to top up your wages for you.
Just to clarify that's a massive proviso obviously. I don't know how anyone would do that on one part time wage.

maddyone

pascal30

I think another factor could be worry about her future given the state of the world and predictions of climate change.. not a nice situation for young people.. we have definitely enjoyed a safe life up til now and probably can't fully comprehend the anxieties of being young today..

Have you forgotten the Cold War?

we

You may speak for yourself of course, pascal but some Gransnetters lived through WW2, lost parents in that war, and, as maddyone says, lived through the Cold War and the threats of nuclear attack.

We also thought we were all going to catch AIDS. The press ran amok with scare stories. Also mad cow disease was going to get us if we liked at beef

I grew up during the troubles where bomb scares were happening agonist daily. Nuclear war was always on people's minds.

It's never been easy

If you lived in the 20th century life was a doddle, no fears of existential anihilation

Yes! All of that.
And my father was in WW1 and WW2.

Don't forgot Northern Ireland and The Troubles, M0nica, a worrying time and worse for those who actually lived there, of course.

X post Louella

In the ‘50s we worried that ‘the bomb’ might drop after a 3 minute warning. In the early ‘60s the Bay of Pigs gave many of us a night when we thought we might not see morning.
However I feel that today relentless news and social media make it almost to avoid both the worst things happening in every corner of the world and other people’s reactions to them. I look at my grandchildren and wonder what the future holds for them.

almost impossible

Well my kids are 32 and 30 and both work full time, both rent and work in London and no way could they work p/t . Their friends all work f/t. As do my friends A/C and my families A/C , so the OP s post is definitely not across the board for young people . In our village pub many of the young staff have two jobs , as did my DS when he was trying to make it as an actor .

But what the people we know are doing in a sense doesnt matter, there has been a change in those in work since the pandemic, the first group affected were the over fifties and now it's the younger age group.

Personally, I'm with her. Yes, it could be seen as irresponsible and selfish, but she wants to enjoy her life, not spend it slogging away just to pay the bills.
When she's old and struggling to survive, at least she will have good memories.

When she’s old and struggling to survive, at least she will have good memories

Well, memories don’t pay your rent or buy you food and heat.

This is my view also. If the young want to work part time & then spend all their earnings going on holidays, nights out etc then that’s their prerogative and I don’t have an issue with it, but when they then expect the state to top up wages, provide all sorts of things and when they don’t get enough, decide it’s the boomers fault because they don’t have at 30 years of ages what took their parents a lifetime of hard work and saving to achieve, then I do.

She may well struggle less than those who have worked though. If the system doesn’t change (and how can it?) she will qualify for pension benefits that have a good chance to make her better off than if she had just a basic pension and a small occupational one. I know that pension credit as we know it is going to be phased out, but unless there is a radical downturn in what the welfare state provides, there will be some replacement. As I said upthread we can’t have pensioners starving (and I’m not advocating cuts in welfare benefits), so what’s the alternative? There are so many people on low wages that many would be better off not bothering to work.

Her life. Her choice. She might be writing a book, or doing something creative in her spare time. She might have a health issue and is managing work as best she can.

But the older age group did exactly the same about 2 years ago.

Galaxy

But the older age group did exactly the same about 2 years ago.

Retired you mean?

Yes, just as doctors have gone part-time in their droves. As I said upthread, the system doesn’t reward work, and won’t until the tax system is reformed radically and top-up benefits are eliminated.