Diary of a British Jobseeker

"Diary of a British Jobseeker" [Video Diary of a 25-year British jobseeker] London, UK December 01, 2012 For months now 25-year-old Joe Paxton's been keeping a video diary about his experiences with the Government's Work Programme. The Work Programme is the government's flagship scheme that pays private sector organizations to place people in work - they called it a 'Revolution in Welfare'. But the first figures released since its launch revealed a resounding failure - something that hasn't surprised Joe in the slightest. (So we've left Joe to go and keep his appointment. It seems pretty regimented, we've watched people running in all morning to keep their appointments. Joe's been coming to this job center once a fortnight for the past six months that he's been on the government's Work Programme. In that time he hasn't found a single job. Unfortunately that's not uncommon. The latest figures released by the Department of Work and Pensions show that Joe is just one of hundreds of thousands of people who have signed up to that Work Programme scheme who've found absolutely nothing.) In fact, between June 2011 and July this year, of all the people who were signed up to the work programme only 3.4% were found work. Far below the targeted 5.5% - which is the number of people who find work without any sort of programme. It means that people like Joe are now statistically less likely to find a job than if they're on no work programme whatsoever. * Joe Paxton, jobseeker (speaking English): [Q]: Can you talk us through your last six months? What has the experience been on a daily basis with this Work Programme? [A]: "Well, Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is to do one thing, and then to repeat that action and expect a different result. And after doing the same thing and getting the same result for six months, I'm starting to feel pretty insane at the end. It's maddening - the frustration, the anguish, despair most of the time." For Joe, the experience is having serious effects. Joe Paxton, jobseeker (speaking English): "I've actually gone to the doctors a couple of times because I have sleeping and psycho problems. I'm sleeping way more than it should be. And the doctors said - 'that sounds interesting, from what you've said, it sounds pretty horrific, why don't you fill in this check list? So I filled in the check list and he says 'you've got clinical depression.' And I thought that figures. So there's an answer. I the start I was like -- yeah, go into science, I'll be the next greatest thing and show the world, and now it's like - 'I don't want to take these pills. I'd rather do something more constructive. So that's pretty much where it's gone." Author Shiv Malik tells us the 'one-size-fits-all' format of the work programme is stifling the individuality of young jobseekers. Shiv Malik, journalist (speaking English): "The people I speak to - they're quite intelligent, quite bright, some of them have degrees, some of them don't, some are quite well-skilled. And they hate being told what to do, and they like to take appropriate action for themselves, they're usually quite good at finding work for themselves, it's just that it's difficult. With the Work Programme what we've seen now is that in fact, when you get the best of the private sector involved and you pay them lots of money they actually do worse than doing nothing at all." We asked the government why the Work Programme was producing such poor results and why the figures they released seem designed mask the true extent of the failure. They responded saying: It's ridiculous to suggest the Work Programme is not helping people into work. Despite being faced with their own shortcomings, it seems the government still doesn't want to listen to what people like Joe telling them loud and clear. 'I regret to inform you that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful.' .´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ CLICK HERE to view all the Videos/photos we've uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/user/WestEndNews/videos .´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸