Brexit

[davybill]

Well now its Osbourne then it was Trump and then Putin and Russia,and
Troubles in Northen Ireand . We are as ll in trouble  by the look of it..
Happy Brexit, everbody.😎😎😁😁
 

[Highlander]

.....and immigrant workers, who have been proved time and time again to contribute more to the economy than they take out.

Lindsey - I have to say that, as an average UK citizen, I strongly resent the claim that my net lifetime contribution is zero .

[LindseyMitchell]

I wouldn’t ever dream of saying such a thing, Highlander.

What I did say was that taking everything into account, EU workers in this country add more to the economy than they take out.  My next door neighbour, for instance, is an Eastern European (Romanian) dentist;  their tax and national insurance contributions, the VAT they pay on the goods and services they buy, the council tax they pay, the nursery their kids attend all add up.  They’re young and healthy and educated, so I can’t imagine they’re a big drain on the health service.
At the end of our road is a thriving hand car wash run by Latvians.  Before they arrived, the site had been a disused filling station - an absolute eyesore.  They work 12 hours a day in all weathers, and offer a fantastic service to the community.  I feel ashamed that people like these are being made to feel unwelcome.
Luckily, our neighbours’ earnings will be well over the 30k cut off point for EU citizens living here, but that would not be the case if they were nurses, teachers, hotel or farm workers, or ran a car wash.

[Ian]

Possibly not a very good example - we have one near us run by Eastern European’s and you only have to take one look at the employees faces - which I did on the one occasion I visited - to see they did not enjoy their work :

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/16/true-human-cost-5-pound-hand-car-wash-modern-slavery

https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/environmental-audit/Hand-Car-Wash-evidence.pdf

[LindseyMitchell]

How many unskilled workers do enjoy their work?  Would you look happy washing cars for 12 hours in the cold?
These people can’t win;  if they stay at home, they’re lazy scroungers and if they work, they’re accused of taking jobs from British workers. 
We use our car wash regularly, and always get smiles and chats;  they have a pensioners’ day on Wednesdays.  As I write, the car wash is covered in Christmas lights.

[KKOB]

How many unskilled workers do enjoy their work?

Hundreds of thousands ! In many cases they stay in unskilled positions because they love the work. I've done several unskilled jobs in the past and thoroughly enjoyed the lack of stress. In fact I'm doing one now, working for a charity.

[Ian]

How many unskilled workers do enjoy their work?  Would you look happy washing cars for 12 hours in the cold?
These people can’t win;  if they stay at home, they’re lazy scroungers and if they work, they’re accused of taking jobs from British workers. 
We use our car wash regularly, and always get smiles and chats;  they have a pensioners’ day on Wednesdays.  As I write, the car wash is covered in Christmas lights.

My real concern is about the people who run them - read the quote (and reports) from parliament and the anti slavery commissioner - the second or third page in - the one that reads:

The abuse of workers at hand car washes is especially pernicious; not only because it ruins lives as people willing to work hard are exploited and controlled, bedded down in metal boxes, ill fed and worked for illegally long hours on a pittance, but also because it thrives by embroiling an unwitting public in serious organised crime.

[madmart]

How many unskilled workers do enjoy their work?

This is a classic example of the 'We know best' attitude of the remain camp / metropolitan elite.

[Highlander]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Lindsey

I wouldn’t ever dream of saying such a thing, Highlander.

"Average EU migrant nett contribution = £78,000.00
 Average UK citizen nett contribution = zero"

What I did say was that taking everything into account, EU workers in this country add more to the economy than they take out.  My next door neighbour, for instance, is an Eastern European (Romanian) dentist;  their tax and national insurance contributions, the VAT they pay on the goods and services they buy, the council tax they pay, the nursery their kids attend all add up.  They’re young and healthy and educated, so I can’t imagine they’re a big drain on the health service.

And a UK dentists' tax and national insurance contributions, the VAT they pay on the goods and services they buy, the council tax they pay, the nursery their kids attend does not all add up?

And is your Romanian neighbour going to be forever young and healthy ?

[LindseyMitchell]

I hope you and your family have had a really lovely Christmas with your family, Highlander xx

No, our neighbours won’t always be young and healthy, but as of now, they’re contributing more to the U.K. economy than many other young couples their age, who will also be old one day.  I know a woman my age who hasn’t worked since the 80s, was made redundant, and went on disability benefits with a bad back;  she now gets £50 a week more a week in pension than me who hasn’t had a complete year off work since I was 16.

Unskilled work on the whole tends to be low paid, repetitive and frankly, boring.  You ask a checkout operator, a warehouse worker, or a call centre operative if they look forward to going back to work after a few days off and see what answer you get.  I was self employed and often thought I’d like to work in a supermarket where I could clock off and not give work another thought, but the boredom and low pay would have driven me crackers.  I take my hat off to these people who I admire enormously.