Daily Lessons from Life 11 November 2010 - Britain targets jobless in huge welfare shake-up

Channel NewsAsia: "Britain targets jobless in huge welfare shake-up - 11 November 2010

LONDON - Britain unveiled plans on Thursday to stop handouts for up to three years to jobless who refuse work, in the biggest shake-up in the history of the welfare state, a day after violent protests rocked London.

Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government also plans a 'universal credit' instead of the current complex system of separate benefit payments as part of reforms aimed at cutting Britain's huge deficit.

The announcement came a day after university students stormed the headquarters of Cameron's Conservative party during a march against plans to hike tuition fees, in the first sign of public anger against the austerity drive.

'We will make sure work always pays more than being on benefit,' Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said as he unveiled the plans before parliament."

Change that is forced upon people is normally resisted with great vigour! The resistance to the change is usually emotional rather than rational. It is clear to anyone with a primary school mathematics skills that going on the doles (or on welfare) on a permanent basis is simply unsustainable! Is that where the UK public who are jobless at? that they are no longer motivated to look for job or they simply could not find a job despite earnest effort to get one? If that is the case, then what are the options?

Lessons for me are:

1. the crux of the matter is: can society create enough jobs for the older workers as well as those who are coming into the work force for the 1st time? are the world resources sufficient to support more urban living?;

2. what do society do when there are simply not enough jobs? should public finance be to fund the jobless, though able and willing, as long as it takes and as long as the taxes from the rich continued to come in?;

3. is there a possible reverse trend from the cities to the rural areas in countries where there are still lands that people can live off?

In UK, maybe it has become a lifestyle to be living off the doles. It cannot carry on. So, it will be life changing and wrenching for many doles specialists! There will be WAR waged by them as they won't give up easily. Sad but inevitable!

I guessed in some way, the hard -nosed approach by Singapore government to insist on 'workfare' is understandable. Yet, it will ONLY work if there are jobs to be had!!