Web 2.0, HR and Local Government

People often talk about getting on the property ladder for first time buyers and this would possibly be the talking point for many graduates who have manage to secure their first job and now considering their first real estate purchase. But nowadays, graduates are faced with a different conundrum. They are faced with the challenge of getting ON the job ladder.

The job ladder

Now you might be wondering, why do I say job ladder and not a career ladder? Well take this snipet I found on Yahoo! Answers

This basically draws a picture how frustrating the job market can be in the UK and graduates are lucky to even get a job than have a job that matches their degree. So therefore, what we are talking about here is the job ladder and not a career ladder.

To highlight this matter even further, last year the government had to deliver a crash course for unemployed graduates on how to get a job as the situation worsens.  This story was covered by the BBC on their website.

Crash course on how to get a job

Unemployed Britons

It’s a known fact nowadays that its getting more an more difficult to secure a job and there are rare to come by and with the government cuts, it will make matters even worst for local governments as this might lead to more people in unemployment, on benefits and create less economic prosperity in their local area.

Its not only graduates that are not getting jobs, there are voices echoing those who are skilled but also fall into the unemployed bracket as they are being made redundant.  Polls on specialised recruitment sites are also expressing some anxiety and uncertainty of the future

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https://www.ex-mil.co.uk/

How does unemployment effect local governments?

There are major negative effects for local governments if unemployment rises in their area. Unemployment is a very devastating thing to go through and this may lead to the following to occur: –

Economic effects

1. Increased expenditure as increased rate of social welfare, because more people are unemployed.
2. Decreased income as less PAYE (Pay As You Earn) because less people are employed.
3. Decreased income as less goods and services produced because of increased unemployment and people would have less money to spend because of being unemployed so less goods and services bought so lesser demand.
4. If people are unemployed, production of goods and provision of services falls off, and simultaneously, the people who are unemployed lack the ability to purchase goods and services.
5. Investors will also be reluctant to invest any money in the production of goods or the provision of services because when production and consumption are down, there is no opportunity to get a return on the investment.

Social effects

1. Crime rate rise as people are unable to meet their financial needs through work.
2. Lead to a person to go to illegal activities such as drugs.  It can have detrimental effects for not only the individual but for their local community as a whole.
3. An increase in the poverty population as unemployment leads to no source of income and without money for basic needs.
4. Divorce rates often rise because people cannot solve their financial problems.
5. The rate of homelessness rises, as do the rates for mental and physical illness.
6. Homes will be repossessed or abandoned, and neighbourhoods deteriorate as a result.

As a result, the ability of local government to provide will also be seriously compromised. When there is high unemployment, people pay less in income taxes and also pay less in sales taxes because they purchase fewer goods and services. This leads to less in the way of public services, which includes everything from police and fire protection to the staffing for local councils swimming pools and rubbish pickup.

A fast-forward scenario

John Smith loses his job, cuts back his spending in every area, including wants (eating out, movies, trips to the amusement park) and even needs (shoes for his kids, or even meat for meals at home).  If John is one of several thousand who were laid off in a community, and they’re all cutting back spending in the same way he is, soon the local grocery stores, restaurants, cinemas, department stores, etc will begin to register fewer profits.  A trend like that, allowed to continue, might lead to layoffs in the stores, restaurants, cinemas, etc, and the cycle will begin anew.  For an economy, local or national, to thrive, people must be spending money, and for people to spend money, they need to be employed.

Effect of unemployment on the employed

Unemployment causes a greater reliance on government assistance.  This increases economic stress on social programs as well as on taxpayers.  Taxpayers will feel they are paying for other peoples needs instead of their own. This will lead to taxpayers feeling that their government has treated them unfairly. This may be down to the quality of quantity of services they received being below the adequate level of need.

How unemployment has turned to Web 2.0

Many recruiters nowadays have turned to web 2.0 to help them find suitable candidates for a job. Recruiters and job seekers both are setting up LinkedIn Groups, Twitter, YouTube, Podcast and Internet radio, Facebook pages, iPhone apps and blogs to either attract job seeker or even job seeking itself. Recruiters are even now developing social media strategies to build their business. This is a indicator of how times are changing and traditional methods are no longer practical or attractive to people either seeking or offering employment. You can download a copy of “Social media for Recruitment – A practical guide on using social media to build your business”. If you are interested in looking at it from a HR/employers point of view and want to be more active in social media to find suitable candidates for your company, you can view the “Web 2.0 and HR: A discussion paper” below.

The Jobcentre Plus

The Jobcentre Plus website is the UK’s most visited recruitment website with over a million visitors each week. This means that Jobcentre Plus content is a valuable resource for both job seekers and employers. Local council websites are under more and more stress to cut costs where possible. Therefore a Jobcentre Plus widget for customized job search for your local area and a redundancy information widget can help local council websites with valuable content and give citizens the information that they need in this hard time.  This type of partnership with councils are to be encouraged and embraced if we are to take up the Big Society challenge.

Partnerships are most basic example of the Big Society

According to 2010 Conservative’s manifesto, the Big Society is about transferring power from central to local government.  Therefore in small way, by sharing information, widgets, apps and assets, we are driving Big Society in the right direction.

Local Directgov developed this widget with Innovate at http://innovate-apps.direct.gov.uk and strategy for you to use the widget effectively as well as encourage other users to embed your customized widget on their blog or website.

Local Directgov will also be sharing some usability tips for local council wiki on their CoP, so be sure to sign up as a member to gain the full benefit of how-to videos, sharing assets and knowledge.

The truth is, we should start sharing and USING what all our partners have to offer. Difficult times calls for a time of unity and doing with less. But it doesn’t mean that we are in any means short of innovation or resources. What we lack is the ability to ‘work together’, awareness and humbleness…

Hope this was useful!

Liz Azyan