Irish Daily Star tells it like it is

ConDem solution to unemployment is to get them wombling

The latest proposal from the office of Iain Duncan Smith is to send the unemployed out to do tasks such as litter picking once they have been unemployed for 12 months.  Or as the Telegraph puts it 'Work-shy will be 'pushed' into working for free by welfare revolution'.  This headline sums up the ConDem approach, it is pandering to the right wing press by picking on people they see as welfare scroungers.

The problem is that this measure will not just target the long-term unemployed.  The ConDem cuts could make 1.5 million people unemployed bringing the unemployment figure to around 3 million, and there are not the jobs available for the unemployed to go to.  Many professional people and recent graduates are going to find themselves unemployed for over a year, is it the best use of their time to make them go litter picking.  Many people are going to have to spend time re-training for the few jobs which are available, the government should be aiming to help these people out of unemployment, rather than sending them on chain-gangs carrying out what can be seen as pointless tasks to please the Daily Mail reading public.  Clive Anderson also made a good point on the Marr show this morning that is this work does need doing the government should create jobs and pay people to do it.

There are admittedly some people who do not want to work, who are capable of work, and maybe if this limit was set at 3 years it may be more likely to focus on this group.  But as it is many professional people who are unemployed through no fault of their own will be made to do menial tasks due to ConDem cuts.