JUST THE JOB
Two European countries are experimenting with an innovative
scheme aimed at getting long-term unemployed back in the public
eye . and back to work.
* Glasgow Works operates a team of city centre guides who
patrol the central district in distinctive red jackets. In teams
of two, they are given a street to patrol, and have small radios
with which they can contact the police, the social services, or
other council offices to arrange the removal of rubbish or
abandoned cars, or to call up the Glasgow Work graffiti-cleaning
team. The guides help tourists, look after lost children, and act
as special constables.
* The programme is headed by Robert Marshall, who used to
work for Shelter, the homeless charity. Marshall: "The key to
everything we do is that we start by giving people a job. We
don't trawl the unemployment office. We advertise in the local
papers, and simply note at the bottom of the ad that you must
live in Glasgow and have been out of work for at least a year."
Glasgow Works uses a client's unemployment benefit, topped up by
money from the EU social fund and some resources from the local
council. On average, participants last about nine months on the
job, and almost invariably get offered other full-time employment
because of the profile and the image of the city guides stands so
high with local employers.
Martin Walker of the Guardian Weekly reports that the guides have
had a striking impact on local crime and civic order. Walker:
".and having held down a responsible and useful job, the guides
themselves have been transformed from being "a problem" as one of
the long-term unemployed, to being self-confident and palpably
useful citizen."
* The Glasgow city guides are similar to the Netherlands
"Stadwacht" service, which also gives the long-term unemployed
some training, a uniform and a radio and sends them into small
neighborhoods to become special constables. The unemployed
participants are paid 120% of the minimum wage. The Netherlands
is also using the long-term unemployed to bring back tram
conductors. Both schemes are what Dutch Employment Minister
describes as job creation that reflects Dutch values in
"restoring a feeling of safety in our cities."
C R E D I T S
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edited by Vivian Hutchinson for the Jobs Research Trust
P.O.Box 428, New Plymouth, New Zealand
phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
Internet address -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Jobs Letter -- an essential information and media watch on
jobs, employment, unemployment, the future of work, and related
economic and education issues.
The Jobs Research Trust -- a not-for-profit Charitable Trust
constituted in 1994 to develop and distribute information that
will help our communities create more jobs and reduce
unemployment and poverty in New Zealand.
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