# unemployment UK/ Spain 2013



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

I saw a headline somewhere about unemployment in the UK and thought I'd just check the 2013 figures as there have been people on recently saying that they were looking for work here 'cos things were so bad in the UK

This is what I found











No further comment.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I saw a headline somewhere about unemployment in the UK and thought I'd just check the 2013 figures as there have been people on recently saying that they were looking for work here 'cos things were so bad in the UK
> 
> This is what I found
> 
> ...


guess where I'm copying that to 

thanks


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

No surprises there but then stats can tell you what you want to hear. In UK the unemployment issue has not yet reached the Spanish problem but I fear it will. So many kids leaving school in UK today are practically unemployable and that is only going to get worse. The UK is bringing in a lot of immigrants from poor EU countries which will mean that manual labour jobs won't be available to kids with no qualifications (a lot of them sadly) so my concern is that in ten years time, when Spain will probably begin to recover, UK unemployment will begin to echo that of Spain today.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

thrax said:


> No surprises there but then stats can tell you what you want to hear. In UK the unemployment issue has not yet reached the Spanish problem but I fear it will. So many kids leaving school in UK today are practically unemployable and that is only going to get worse. The UK is bringing in a lot of immigrants from poor EU countries which will mean that manual labour jobs won't be available to kids with no qualifications (a lot of them sadly) so my concern is that in ten years time, when Spain will probably begin to recover, UK unemployment will begin to echo that of Spain today.


I don't deny it Thrax, and obviously things are getting worse in the UK, but what I'm hoping to say by posting those stats is that Spain - today - is much worse than the UK. In fact unemployment here is _*well over triple*_ that of the UK. 
I think there are some people who genuinely still don't know this. I don't know why exactly, but they don't and sometimes when you see a graphic representation of figures it makes it clearer. Of course the figures are manipulated to a certain extent, but they are for all the countries and however much the governments have tried to tweak the numbers you can't tweak away 18 million people (the approx difference between Spain and the UK).
I too see a decline in the UK employment and standard of living, but I don't know where it will end up nor when. I'm talking about now and the immediate future of Spain. 
I still live a good life in Spain, a few more worries, a more precarious future, but I'm still here. However, my circumstances are not those of others. I've been here for donkey's years, have a Spanish husband and daughter and a wider Spanish family network. I speak Spanish. I have work. My situation has little to do with Mr and Mrs just landed


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Yes I recently helped my Doctors son , who is an English speaking IT engineer,with some links to job sites, Spanish UK forums, etc ; & I was amazed at the sheer amount of vacancies available in his line of work. I then had a rummage around looking at other vacancies & there are huge amounts in all fields. It must be as Thrax says that the labour force now looking are in no way qualified to do these jobs allied with a benefits culture that pays them large amounts of taxpayers money that they cannot possibly obtain by working.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

gus-lopez said:


> Yes I recently helped my Doctors son , who is an English speaking IT engineer,with some links to job sites, Spanish UK forums, etc ; & I was amazed at the sheer amount of vacancies available in his line of work. I then had a rummage around looking at other vacancies & there are huge amounts in all fields. It must be as Thrax says that the labour force now looking are in no way qualified to do these jobs allied with a benefits culture that pays them large amounts of taxpayers money that they cannot possibly obtain by working.


But, are you talking about Spain or UK Gus?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> But, are you talking about Spain or UK Gus?


he said on another thread that his doctor's son has gone to the UK for work - so I guess he means there's work in the UK


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Remember those numbers are the people LOOKING for work. The real number of unemployed is FAR WORSE.


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## Tilley (Jun 10, 2012)

Whilst the figures say one thing i.e. 30,000 issued with an NI number, there is nothing there to say if 30, 300, 3000 or 30,000 have any form of gainful employment or indeed any form of decent housing.

If they have left the family home in Spain they may well be living in far worse conditions here, maybe one room in a hostel in the UK. There is virtually no social housing left at all so unless you can find work and therefore rent a place in the private sector the chances of getting accommodation are slim to nil unless they bring 11 kids with (presumably something your average Spainish young person will not have achieved nor desire).

I know of someone who was put into one of these 'holding hostels' that under no circumstances folk are supposed to be put in for more than 4 weeks and is still there months later  and those in the rooms next to are not what you would call dream neighbours . 

It's hardly living the dream either but it is often all that a national insurance number will get one.

In terms of unskilled work for people with English as a second language, the Polish girls have 80 to 90% of the waitressing business sewn up and excellent waitresses they are too, fast, polite and accurate with billing, potentially in a different league to a Spainsh waiter or waitress who are just not as fast as UK restaurant clientel require, the other 10 to 20 % tend to be Brit Uni kids working to support their education or those who are trying to work their way into senior levels and Management in hospitality and catering who have undertaken a two year Btec in H&C but are starting at the bottom and working their way through.

It's not just about raw data, there is a qualitaitive issue as well.

You will never stop people spreading their wings and trying another Country it is something folk have to work out for themselves and has gone on for centurys, provided a Brit has a plan b there isn't much that can be done to stop them, nor should there be, a few will make a roaring success of it and so will a few coming the other way as well.


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## Calas felices (Nov 29, 2007)

I had lunch in Devon last Saturday and was served by a Spanish waiter from Barcelona who was excellent. He had come to England to seek work and obviously had learnt English waiting practices as he said he had had to alter his whole philosophy. Nice to practice the Spanish though.


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## Tilley (Jun 10, 2012)

Calas felices said:


> I had lunch in Devon last Saturday and was served by a Spanish waiter from Barcelona who was excellent. He had come to England to seek work and obviously had learnt English waiting practices as he said he had had to alter his whole philosophy. Nice to practice the Spanish though.



LOL I was wondering how long it would be for some to post and say that had been served by a Spanish waiter and they were of course excellent and the best waiter in the world. I was saying there are unlikely to be fresh opportunities for 30,000 newly arrived and more importantly that statistics (which is what this post is really about), never tell the whole story.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

I'm getting really confused in some posts as to whether people are talking about Spain or the UK, so could you make it blatantly obvious to help me, please?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Tilley said:


> LOL I was wondering how long it would be for some to post and say that had been served by a Spanish waiter and they were of course excellent and the best waiter in the world. I was saying there are unlikely to be fresh opportunities for 30,000 newly arrived and more importantly that statistics (which is what this post is really about), never tell the whole story.


I agree that stats never tell the whole story, but as I said before 18 million people is a lot of people to be airbrushed away. There is, however you look at it, much more unemployment in Spain than in the UK


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

thrax said:


> The UK is bringing in a lot of immigrants from poor EU countries which will mean that manual labour jobs won't be available to kids with no qualifications (a lot of them sadly) so my concern is that in ten years time, when Spain will probably begin to recover, UK unemployment will begin to echo that of Spain today.


One of the main unemployment problems in Spain, at least in the beginning was the number of unqualified people looking for work. Because the building industry collapsed a lot of labourers lost their jobs. A lot of these were people who had left school as early as they could because there was a lot of employment. Why stay at school when you could be working and earning?


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> One of the main unemployment problems in Spain, at least in the beginning was the number of unqualified people looking for work. Because the building industry collapsed a lot of labourers lost their jobs. A lot of these were people who had left school as early as they could because there was a lot of employment. Why stay at school when you could be working and earning?


Absolutely correct and around here many of them are returning to agriculture. Just shows, don't leave school early!!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

thrax said:


> Absolutely correct and around here many of them are returning to agriculture. Just shows, don't leave school early!!


Arrrggh!
Here = Spain, right?
Please don't tax my sleep deprived brain..................

Returning to agriculture?
Interesting.
Perhaps Spain will win out in the end?!


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## Karen58 (Aug 1, 2012)

The Spanish reality of the unemployment figures is very false as the 26% does not include the self-employed who are not entitled to receive state help, the under 25's who again are not entitled and the black workers who are still out there not earning. My gestor is german and working with the Denia empleo office linking young Spanish with German companies looking for apprenticeships.... she is struggling to place people as they are not willing to move, learn a new language and put in a 42 hour week and only 20 days holiday annually. As Spain declines and growth does not happen on the Costas these young people will change their attitudes due to the reality of having no income... the more highly educated Spanish are moving to UK, my husbands company has taken on a spanish engineer who commutes home to Javea every 2 weeks. Spanish nurses are coming into the NHS but have to undergo retraining on bedside care and multi-disciplinary care with a longer working day.. Most young people in UK are employable but find the 'Experience v Opportunity' is the main obstacle. Personally I feel the recession here is going to continue for another 5 years as second home buyers from the UK is reducing for fear of the future of the Euro & Europe ... our children cannot afford to buy a home in UK let alone here so we can only watch, wait and hope for a stronger Spain.


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## Sirtravelot (Jul 20, 2011)

Those Stats sure are scary. I'm gonna give Spain a shot though. I wanna give it at least a year or two. If nothing works out, fine, I can always go to Germany.

I think that emphasizes everything really, if you wanna go to Spain, you better have a plan B.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

thrax said:


> Just shows, don't leave school early!!


hahahaha
My husband has three undergraduate degrees. 
He's a substitute teacher and suffering from the cuts in education.

Know what's saving our butts? 
The fact he's a musician. I didn't think I'd say this, but thank goodness I married an artist!


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