Workfare

So there's a shortage of jobs out there and or those looking for work don't have the skills employers are looking for. The government can't magic jobs out of thin air in the private sector, like Labour did in the public sector, so what can they do?

It seems they are asking private companies to take people on for a few weeks at a time, giving those people valuable experience. People they wouldn't otherwise employ as they don't have the skills to justify the wages that role would normally command. The employee still gets an income in terms of their benefits, they also get free training and experience. The company doesn't have to pay a wage for a role that doesn't exist to somebody they wouldn't have employed anyway. The government still pays benefits, which it would have done anyway, but there's now a good chance that they may get somebody off the books as they will have more to offer. All in all it looks like win, win, win.

So now we have the other side, which seems to be mostly those with a leaning towards the left demanding these people should be paid a wage while gaining the work experience. This is fine, but that assumes there is an actual job there, rather than a work placement. If that was the case, they wouldn't get the job, because they don't have the skills and because there is a minimum wage and their value is currently below that. So in essence they are demanding the private sector create jobs to employ people that don't have the skills to do the job in the first place. This is all sounding very much like the public sector again.