Unemployed & Benefits

[seafoid]

"Average income for the Mainland is £22,000 or something."

Even as part of the UK, Nordies get a bad deal. 

"Average income for the Mainland is £22,000 or something."

Which mainland is he talking about? France or something?

I`ve often heard the rest of the Uk refered to "the mainland" in the north. I find it very odd.

The average or mean salary is always very skewed due to very high salaries at the top end for the top 5% or so.

I bet the median salary is a lot less than £22K and couple that with the fact that on average(mean) workers in the North earn approximately 10% less than workers in Great Britain doing comparable jobs even though we pay more for electricity, fuel and food.

But very few people in NI would be earning £200 per week.
And how is anyone in NI with kids supposed to subsist on £65 per week? 

It all comes from the English contempt of those in a spot of bother. This is alien to Irish catholic culture .I don't know about the unionists but how is someone in Larne say supposed to get his life back together after falling into unemployment on a stipend of £65 per week ?
£65 is not enough to enable someone to get through the week with any sense of dignity.

How much does NI spend on unemployment benefit anyway? where does the rest of the money go?   

[seafoid]

"Average income for the Mainland is £22,000 or something."

Even as part of the UK, Nordies get a bad deal. 

"Average income for the Mainland is £22,000 or something."

Which mainland is he talking about? France or something?

I`ve often heard the rest of the Uk refered to "the mainland" in the north. I find it very odd.

The average or mean salary is always very skewed due to very high salaries at the top end for the top 5% or so.

I bet the median salary is a lot less than £22K and couple that with the fact that on average(mean) workers in the North earn approximately 10% less than workers in Great Britain doing comparable jobs even though we pay more for electricity, fuel and food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income

Median UK income in 2004 was £24 700. Not £200 per week.   

[whiskeysteve]

I find it very hard to believe that any man will get put of bed for as little as £40 a day. I`m not belittling anyone, but I was getting double that labouring in London in the early 1990s and I wasnt the worlds hardest worker.

In the North, if you are on the dole for longer than 6 months im pretty sure it is mandatory to join job schemes that can involve you working a minimum of 30 hours per week, for your basic dole plus an extra £15 per week.

If you don't comply your benefits are threatened. Thus you will get out of bed.

By the way, if you are under 25 basic dole is £51.85 a week.

Nevermind 40 a day. There are young people with degrees getting out of bed for £66.85 a week to work near full time jobs.

http://www.gapni.com/

[bcarrier]

I will soon be unemployed (haven't been told yet but i know it's coming) and i was wondering what benefits i would be entitled too, i have 2 kids and a wife who only works 16 hours a week (small wage). I have been in constant employment for 21 years...

The Southern Brethren can add to this to compare what North get compared to South

There may well be a thread similar to this so sorry in advance...

P.S. I work in Civil Engineering (Consultants) and the construction industry is dead (you already know this) but apparently manufacturing has picked up? Can this lead onto the Construction Industry improving or not?

Thats tough illdecide. Will there be civils work in sorting out the water situation in the North or will it just be a patch it up job ?  Residential is fecked in both parts of the island and all the larger government/capital/infrastructure  jobs seem to be parked ...there is an oversupply/development of retail so I dont see much light at the end of construction tunnel in Ireland. I spend a lot of time in London and its better but not hectic there either. Have you looked at remote working ....have seen a few fledgling sites trying to match consultants with projects but not sure if they have real momentum/ critical mass  ?

[All of a Sludden]

I find it very hard to believe that any man will get put of bed for as little as £40 a day. I`m not belittling anyone, but I was getting double that labouring in London in the early 1990s and I wasnt the worlds hardest worker.

If your alternative was £60 a week you would!

Hell of an incentive to find a decent job, but I suppose its all a matter of perspective.

[Trout]

No wonder you free staters are in the state you are in when you think it is acceptable to pay someone €200 a week to sit scratching themselves.

[andoireabu]

Why can't the devolved NI government improve dole to more humane levels? Who can live on £65 a week?
It's hard enough on €200.

There are people working in the north would love to bring home 200 a week so dry your eyes.

I don't believe you. Who are these people and how many of them are they? 200 pw is just
north of £10,000 per annum. Or £5 per hour. Who earns less than that?   

Average income for the Mainland is £22,000 or something .

Tax avoidance would fund decent social welfare benefits. Otherwise low levels just drive people into the black economy.
The UK has a savagely backward attitude to the nouveau poor. And it's all their fault, of course. Nothing to do with the banks.   

Me. Apprentice wage for someone my age by law is £2.50 an hour. It's less for ones fresh out of school.  Though I don't get it as bad as that but still less than 5 quid an hour.

[Bogball XV]

There are people working in the north would love to bring home 200 a week so dry your eyes.

You can`t be serious, no one would work for £40 a day. The lowest wage I know of is €500 per week, otherwise the dole would be a better option.

There's plenty of occupations in the south earning much less than that.  The min wage comes out at about €15500 odd and there are many positions offering about that level - most lower level retail, cleaning, catering, carework etc wouldn't pay much above that.  Of course there's also quite a bit of below min wage black market employment that goes on in the industries above and other seasonal agricultural jobs.

[Bogball XV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income

Median UK income in 2004 was £24 700. Not £200 per week.

that's household income seafoid, not directly comparable with individual income.

[Bogball XV]

But very few people in NI would be earning £200 per week.
And how is anyone in NI with kids supposed to subsist on £65 per week? 

It all comes from the English contempt of those in a spot of bother. This is alien to Irish catholic culture .I don't know about the unionists but how is someone in Larne say supposed to get his life back together after falling into unemployment on a stipend of £65 per week ? £65 is not enough to enable someone to get through the week with any sense of dignity.

How much does NI spend on unemployment benefit anyway? where does the rest of the money go?

utter rubbish, if that were the case why doesn't Ireland have a health service which is 'fit for purpose', which gives a massively different standard of care to those who can pay than to those who can't - education is reverting to the same structure too.

[bennydorano]

Think u can only  get help with mortgages once you've been claiming  JSA(income based) for 13wks or more. If ur getting a decent redundancy package you'll prb only get ur contributory based JSA. Contact ur local J&BO.

The mortgage help is interest only payments btw.

[Hurler on the Bitch]

Being a tight bastard, I was wondering about what poverty was when I was walking round Tesco the other day - ps have you noticed the price of cheese lately? Anyway, I saw Tesco noodles priced at 10p! Feck - 20 packets of these would feed a man for a week. So that's a man fed and with 2 packets of 6 pack cheese and onion to sprinkle over, sure that's a feast. So, we have a culinary delight for the price of 4 quid - add 2 loaves - another quid each say - and that is a square meal for six quid a week. Then, for dessert, 7 tins of mixed fruit added would cost 1.40 - 7.40 to be fed. Now we get to the essentials. I think that a man could smoke (if you do) 2 packs of that Drum tobacco with papers ... 50g for £12 quid .... that's a week's smoking - add papers for a pound and that's food and smokes sorted for £20. Now the big issue is beer. Best value is that Strophenhaun Czech beer at £3.57 for 4 .. so multiply that by 7 and that is ...........£25 quid. That is a man's needs attended to for £45 a week. I feel that if secretly I kill the cats and dogs in the street and put them on the fire - sprinkle the burnt bits on top of the noodles - and I could live rightly. However, if you have a wife, kids, a mortgage, a life or debts, this might be a bit hypothetical. But I have a mate who says that kids can survive on vitamins (and that is something that can be got at the doctors) so: party on!!!

[Milltown Row2]

I will soon be unemployed (haven't been told yet but i know it's coming) and i was wondering what benefits i would be entitled too, i have 2 kids and a wife who only works 16 hours a week (small wage). I have been in constant employment for 21 years...

The Southern Brethren can add to this to compare what North get compared to South

There may well be a thread similar to this so sorry in advance...

P.S. I work in Civil Engineering (Consultants) and the construction industry is dead (you already know this) but apparently manufacturing has picked up? Can this lead onto the Construction Industry improving or not?

Thats tough illdecide. Will there be civils work in sorting out the water situation in the North or will it just be a patch it up job ?  Residential is fecked in both parts of the island and all the larger government/capital/infrastructure  jobs seem to be parked ...there is an oversupply/development of retail so I dont see much light at the end of construction tunnel in Ireland. I spend a lot of time in London and its better but not hectic there either. Have you looked at remote working ....have seen a few fledgling sites trying to match consultants with projects but not sure if they have real momentum/ critical mass  ?

I hope it works out well, Engineering seems to be doing a lot better than the Civil side of things. I work in a training college and we deliver Electrical, Fabrication/Welding and Mechanical engineering. We are busy and have a lot of students out there working away. A lot of employers (in engineering) are taking people on who have been laid off in other areas and re training them.

For them its a great opportunity to get employees who have a College education and with a bit of training can become a asset to their firm. I firmly believe in cold calling and phoning companies, shows how interested and keen someone can be

[Rav67]

Thats the going rate pints. When you have 200 per week dole, plus other benefits like rent/mortgage allowance, winter fuel allowance, family allowance which is a fair whack and what ever other benefits there are you`ll understand why wages are so high.
There is no way that anyone in the north is working for as little as £200 a week.

You really have no clue what you are talking about.  That's all I earn a week after tax and if I can't work I won't get paid.  Plenty of people in the same boat too.

[dillinger]

There is many here in the north taking home £200 per week and then paying £100 for their rent. Only get likes of tax credits if you have family.