The Real Problem Are the People Who Criticise the System

Yesterday I heard a woman saying that people on Job Seekers Allowance do nothing to try and find a job. In her own words, people recieving benefit are useless wastes of space. People who don't want to work, people who the country would 'be better off without'. And what's worse, this woman was a Job-Centre Advisor...

Now, as mentioned previously, I am unemployed. I'm not ashamed to admit that for one second. I'm not ashamed because I'm trying so, so hard to find a job, and it's near impossible for someone with little public experience to find a job in this desolate climate...I look in the newspaper. I look on the internet. I call places. I sign up to receive interview offers from apprenticeship agencies offering bare minimum wages, simply because I want a job, I want to learn and gain new experiences, I want to gain new qualifications, but more than anything I want to built a life for myself. And I'm not the only person who does this. Hundreds, of thousands of people, young and old every day search up and down the country for jobs, in every sector imaginable.

But this bigoted, opinionated woman, she said people like me, and even myself, do nothing to find a job. We just sit around all day, playing the xbox and watching Jeremy Kyle whilst eating chips and doritos bought with the money we get from the taxes they pay.
I have no doubt whatsoever that there are people who do nothing but this every week. I'm sure of it in fact, but just because one or two people abuse the system, 60 others try as hard as they can, and take every single opportunity given to them. And that is the source of the problem. It's the Nirvana Fallacy. You never hear of the success stories within people who are unemployed. You only hear about people like those on Jeremy Kyle. What sort of image is she painting of the unemployed people? The people she tells won't know any better, and because she works at the job centre, the people she tells will believe her! The nation will continue to believe that all the 3 million people out of work are currently on Call of Duty, drinking a can of Stella and getting arrested.

Author’s Note:

I originally wrote this piece in March of 2011. Since then, I have worked in numerous sectors, including employment agencies, the railway, and the Civil Service. In 2013 I started working for my current employer, and I have been there ever since.