New Labour's New Deal for the unemployed. Bane or boon?

Question

Have you experienced New Labour's New Deal?

Did it help you? Did you receive high quality training or work experience that benefited you? Did you mind being seconded onto the compulsory "Intensive Activity Period" where, possibly, you were forced to work for very much less than the minimum wage, outlawed under all other circumstances? Did you get permanent paid employment out of it, during it or after it? Have you been forced on to the scheme more than once? Do you believe the New Deal has really given hundreds of thousands of people secure well paid jobs as Gordon Brown boasts?

If you have participated in the New Deal or have any opinions concerning its implementation please comment and relate your thoughts and experiences whether they be good or bad.

Answer 1

All I can do is laugh so hard my insides hurt, I've never been unemployed and have always worked, but I've had mates who were forced to go on these schemes. Basically they were used as a form of cheap labour and the employers had no intention of giving them a permanent job at the end of it, they know they can't just leave so they can treat them how they want. It's very sad when people are reduced to being merely a statistic a number on a government list, you and I both know they'll do ANYTHING to keep the unemployment figures down, if there's under 1 million people unemployed in the UK (officially) then how come nearly half of the population is out of work or unable to work?

I always beg to differ when it comes to the powers that be...

Cheers, best wishes.

Jason.