The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
As the government presses ahead with plans to force the sick back to work and job seekers into 'Mandatory Work Activity placements', new research has blown a hole in its 'work is good for you' mantra. A study published this week warns while good quality jobs deliver health benefits, bad jobs can leave you in a worse state of health than remaining unemployed. Following on from its heavily criticised health reassessments of incapacity benefit claimants, the government this week announced that where Jobcentre Plus advisers 'believe a jobseeker will benefit from experiencing the habits and routines of working life, they will have the power to refer them to a four week mandatory placement.' Participants will be expected to spend up to 30 hours a week, for four weeks, on the placement and will be required to continue to look for work. Employment minister Chris Grayling said: 'I've been really worried by some of the job search interviews I've sat through where people are clearly losing their focus and just aren't getting any closer to a job.' However, TUC and others have warned that applicants outstrip vacancies by at least five-to-one, and there is particularly a shortage of good jobs. A study published this week concluded that while overall the unemployed had poorer mental health than those who were employed, 'the mental health of those who were unemployed was comparable or superior to those in jobs of the poorest psychosocial quality.' The Australian research team say their findings, published online in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, show: 'The health benefits of becoming employed were dependent on the quality of the job. Moving from unemployment into a high quality job led to improved mental health... however the transition from unemployment to a poor quality job was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed.'
