I don't see why any country should have to rely on poorly paid immigrant workers to care for its elderly or infirm or otherwise less able citizens. In this case I think Brexit and immigration policies serve to highlight a problem of UK attitudes to such work and the funding needed.
Remember the old adage - pay peanuts, get monkeys - tho these days it seems to be pay peanuts get no-one.
It's not purely about the pay. A farmer was on TV earlier in the year talking about the difficulty in recruiting British workers. He was paying well above minimum wage, advertised in the local Job Centre for fruit pickers. Over 100 people applied, only 6 turned up for interview and only 1 accepted the job, and they didn't stay long. The complained the work was too hard. When Universities want students to be able to type all their work because they find hand writing "Too tiring" we really do know the mess we are in.
@Obelixx I think you are absolutely right, the problem now is that more children than ever pass exams and they really don't want that type of job, or any if theycan help it. they've all been to ‘Uni’. They won’t dirty their hands on those jobs, wouldn’t matter what you offered in pay.
Hopefully, as Hostafan mentioned before about the Indian girls just started in his care home, that now Boris has the trade deal with India and is bringing workers from there, it may pick up.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
It's not just pay @KT53. It's also working conditions and facilities plus "image". For decades now some areas of work have been seen to be low priority, unsexy, unvalued and infradig - manufacturing, farmworkers, social care, cooks and waiting staff, cleaners and porters and, more recently, teaching, policing, nursing.
Until those professions and occupations are well funded, well resourced and have decent working hours and conditions they are going to find it hard to acquire good staff in adequate numbers.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Not everyone at "uni" is lazy and picky about jobs. My niece is doing a Masters. She's got funding for the fees, but has to work to meet her living costs. There is no bank of mum and dad to help her. So she has two jobs, one in a cafe, and one with a care provider. She loves helping her two "ladies" and has really got to know them well. The work she does is helping them keep well and stay at home. She is being very careful not to catch Covid and take it to them.
I agree she may not be typical, but many of her friends also do some of the jobs that others turn their noses up at.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Obelixx & Lyn, I agree with the points you raise for many of the unpopular jobs, but there have been massive problems getting younger Brits to do manual work irrespective of the wages. They simply won't get their hands dirty.
Also, "Going to Uni" is certainly not the golden ticket it was held up to be when the target of 50% of school leavers going there was announced. It was obvious from the start - not 50% of jobs require a university level education, and going to Uni simply raised false expectations in so many.
I was reading recently of one Chief Constable despairing of the plan to require all police recruits to have a university degree. He said many young people join the police and then leave within a short time because they don't want to work evenings and weekends, plus the job can be dangerous. How sheltered from the real world must these people have been if they didn't realise that from the outset?
People whose families hale from the old 'working class' were given the prospect of leaving all that behind by the myth sold to them by Margaret Thatcher of becoming the home-owning middle class ... they were taught to despise 'getting their hands dirty' and became aspirational for their children ... every parent wanted their child to go to university, that way they knew they'd succeeded as parents ... and that's why we have so few folk wanting to work in manufacturing or caring or even building/plumbing, agriculture etc.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I always said to my kids,I didn't mind what they did as long as it was decent,honest and legal. Had a very middle class friend,she was sooooh snobby when I suggested (light heartedly) could our girls become hairdressers save us a fortune. She curled her lip, said she had far higher expectations of R than being a (very curled sneer) hairdresser. Well,my youngest while at school,part time job in hospitality,same agency as her older sister,had 2 kids,is a software expert,has been offered promotion several times,(difficult for childcare because of our distance) R and brother went to uni, brother then went to a squat. R went and bummed round on a beach abroad. Started uni again after hearing how much daddy earned in an hour,(she would have been completely unsuitable in this role,) left uni,is now working in a coffee shop.
I don't see why any country should have to rely on poorly paid immigrant workers to care for its elderly or infirm or otherwise less able citizens. In this case I think Brexit and immigration policies serve to highlight a problem of UK attitudes to such work and the funding needed.
Remember the old adage - pay peanuts, get monkeys - tho these days it seems to be pay peanuts get no-one.
It's not purely about the pay. A farmer was on TV earlier in the year talking about the difficulty in recruiting British workers. He was paying well above minimum wage, advertised in the local Job Centre for fruit pickers. Over 100 people applied, only 6 turned up for interview and only 1 accepted the job, and they didn't stay long.
There is also the possibility that the farmer is an arsehole and no one wants to work for him.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Regarding your ‘superior’ friend, @Nanny Beach, I know someone who has the perfect put down. “Hmm,” she says, “she’s so posh she thinks she can shit cucumbers.”
Posts
It's not purely about the pay. A farmer was on TV earlier in the year talking about the difficulty in recruiting British workers. He was paying well above minimum wage, advertised in the local Job Centre for fruit pickers. Over 100 people applied, only 6 turned up for interview and only 1 accepted the job, and they didn't stay long. The complained the work was too hard. When Universities want students to be able to type all their work because they find hand writing "Too tiring" we really do know the mess we are in.
they've all been to ‘Uni’. They won’t dirty their hands on those jobs, wouldn’t matter what you offered in pay.
Hopefully, as Hostafan mentioned before about the Indian girls just started in his care home, that now Boris has the trade deal with India and is bringing workers from there, it may pick up.
Until those professions and occupations are well funded, well resourced and have decent working hours and conditions they are going to find it hard to acquire good staff in adequate numbers.
My niece is doing a Masters. She's got funding for the fees, but has to work to meet her living costs. There is no bank of mum and dad to help her.
So she has two jobs, one in a cafe, and one with a care provider.
She loves helping her two "ladies" and has really got to know them well. The work she does is helping them keep well and stay at home. She is being very careful not to catch Covid and take it to them.
I agree she may not be typical, but many of her friends also do some of the jobs that others turn their noses up at.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.