COMPETITION for lower end jobs is incredibly tough because few roles are available for unskilled workers, the Social security minister has said.
Deputy Mark Dorey (pictured) was responding to news that a garage forecourt attendant job attracted 136 applicants.
He said that was hardly surprising with the number of people currently unemployed.
‘There’s a lot of competition for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, particularly those that appear attractive, perhaps because of outside working or contact with people,’ he said.
‘With 480 people unemployed at the end of August and not a great number of non-finance related jobs advertised in the Guernsey Press, it’s only to be expected that there will be a lot of interest in the vacancies that do come up.’
‘At Social Security we expect the people registering as unemployed to be making their best efforts to find work. And we are helping people on a one-to-one basis as much as we can within very stretched resources.’
The Guernsey Press contacted non-finance companies who advertised vacancies this week and most said they were receiving more calls than expected.
One business, which did not want to be named, received about 30 calls about an administrative role on the first day of advertising.
‘We would have never had that many a couple of years ago.
‘It’s a sign of the times,’ a spokesperson said.
Braye Road Garage boss Dave Finn said he was shocked to receive 136 calls about the forecourt job.
He said a lot of applicants were overqualified and it was a hard job to narrow candidates into a shortlist.
‘We were absolutely amazed,’ he said.
‘We thought that if we got 10 to 15 applicants that would be fine but the phone did not stop ringing.
‘It was unbelievable.’
Mr Finn said it would have been impossible to interview all candidates.
‘There were a lot of office workers and bank workers who applied,’ he said.
‘We felt that if someone overqualified was given the job, they would have left as soon as a bank job came up.
‘We had to get the right person and I think we did.’
Article posted on 21st September, 2009 - 2.29pm
6 Article Comments
I believe the main cause for this here and the UK is migrant workers. If you’ve been to the “lower end jobs” in supermarkets, they’re full of migrant workers, which many local citizens could fill if other “lower end jobs” are being applied for that many times.
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GG – it would be interesting to know the demographic of the people who applied for this job – I wonder how many of the applicants were “local citizens” and how many were workers from abroad?
It’s also worth noting that some migrant workers are legally entitled to live/work here by virtue of marriage. Without draconian laws reminiscent of the Nuremburg Laws in 1930s Germany these particular cases cannot be stopped. In fact given the nature of modern life, these cases are only likely to increase.
As an aside – isn’t it interesting that during times of economic hardship there is often a corresponding rise in nationalism and extremism? Take Germany in the 1930s – before the Depression, Hitler was a bit of a freakish sideshow however once the Depression had bitten, his policy of “I’ll give you a job and national pride just don’t question my methods” suddenly became more attractive to people struggling to find work.
GG – I’m not accusing you of extremism but it’s certainly something we should be aware of. We were happy to welcome migrant workers to Guernsey with open arms when it suited our purposes – we can’t really lay all the blame on them for being here just because times have suddenly got harder.
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GG
Lets get this straight and once and for all and end this dabate about guest workers taking local people’s jobs. i work in retail and i have had jobs advertised at and asked for searches to be done, at the job centre. VERY, VERY few local people even apply. I can employ any amount of local people to work in the mornings unfortunately I need people to work from 4.00p.m. until midnight.I don’t begrudge anyone the right to try and get the best working hours\conditions they can I don’t have a problem with that at all. i employ many great local staff. years ago my wife worked in a chip shop for seven years until midnight each shift. My wife now works in a trust company mornings only and is well looked after. I don’t blame anyone for making that choice. GUEST WORKERS ARE ONLY DOING THE JOBS LOCAL PEOPLE DO NOT WANT.Depending on who you talk to we have between 3,500 and 6,000 guest workers in Guernsey and 500 or so folks unemployed it is not rocket science to determine that we still have a labour shortfall in Guernsey. Even if you take the lower figure and say take a wage of £260 per week the guest workers are putting £2,839,200 into the social insurance fund with a similar amount from the employer.This money is used to pay for local pensions, supplimentry benefit e.t.c. Unless you are prepared to accept racist laws and ridicule from outside the island for goodness sake shut up about guest workers at least they pay tax and insurance here unlike all the Local folks who work outside the island. By the way I agree with Paul le p. in what he said, that’s the second time Ive found myself agreeing with Paul I just don’t believe it!
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Well done Paul Le P & kevin on pointing out GG’s naive and ignorant opinion. An opinion presumably regurgitated from certain national newspapers without any consideration for facts.
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Thanks Kevin for your insight into the local labour market. We hear a lot of rumour and opinion but it’s good to hear from someone actually in the know who has experience.
Your quote “GUEST WORKERS ARE ONLY DOING THE JOBS LOCAL PEOPLE DO NOT WANT” would certainly appear to be the case on many occasions. I would add to your comment that as times get harder, local people will inevitably become less picky, causing conflict and resentment against those guest workers who were willing to do these jobs during more affluent times.
As I said in my first comment: we welcomed guest workers when it suited us, even put on flights to bring them here. We can’t now lay the blame at their door for accepting our invitation.
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I am a local lady, recently returned to the island and looking for employment. Although qualified I have applied for many vacancies across many sectors including 2 large supermarkets. I have so far been unsuccessful, I have been told by one local employer that his job was not suitable for women, it was a kitchen porter vacancy(surely this is sexism and illegal?) I have been told by a local garage owner that he could not employ a local because he can employ a latvian at a much lower wage (I have children and a mortgage, if I lived alone in a bedsit then I could probably afford to work for under £5 an hour), I have been told at a local hotel that they are only interested in employees who live in (certainly not a possibility for me with a family), the worst experience I had was with a very succesful local boutique who have just expanded to new premises, they will only employ foreign workers because these workers will not demand a contract (a legal requirement) and can be fired without notice whenever the company wished it.
We need migrant workers but there needs to be a bit more legislation, businesses should be required to have a certain percentage of locals in their workforce and a reasonable minimum wage.
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