Yes, there are capable people refusing to take jobs. A lot of the time it's because the jobs are underpaid, the conditions suck and the workplace culture is toxic. I took my Civil Service Pension at 60 in 2018 and cut my work-week down to three days. Public sector wages had been cut (in real terms) every year since 2010 when Cameron started his austerity con by freezing them for two years. By 2018 the annual increase was still only 2% and I had to fight bloody hard (as a Union rep) to make sure that even that pittance was universal, rather than 'performance-related'. But they kept piling the work on and God help anyone who insisted on working just their contracted hours, or abiding by their job description! By 2019, I'd had enough and simply walked out. For the last four years, we've been scraping by on my and Annes CP pensions, plus a bit of help from the DWP due to Annes' poor health. Said DWP should have been bullying me into getting a job at an Amazon warehouse or stacking shelves in Poundland (because what else does a graduate with years of experience as an analyst and researcher dream of doing). Fortunately, my poor mental health, Annes' poor physical health and the responsibilities of looking after ageing and frail parents meant the DWP cut me a lot of slack! Call me lazy if you want - water off a ducks' back!
Just last month, however, Annes' State Pension started coming in. As a result, we are now getting just about the same per month as I used to get when I was working full time! Without a mortgage to pay and kids to feed and clothe, we're better off than we ever were! This time next year, I'll be due my State Pension, I probably won't get the full amount (because Civil Service), but even a couple of hundred a month will have us better off then we've ever been!
My daughter is a single mum of two kids. One is autistic, the other has Type 1 diabetes. As things stand, getting a job would be the worst thing she could do, financially as well as regarding the kids' welfare!
These situations are hardly unique, so given that, is it any wonder that a significant number of people have given up on the idea of work? Better to just get by on benefits and what used to be your side-hustle and be reasonably content than to work your bits off in a toxic environment for what will likely end up (once you factor in all the extra expenses) being no more than an extra 50 quid a month!
