I need more money and less shit from the government

Like most of the British population between 18 and 25, I should currently be searching for a job. While I like the idea of ensuring that I have the luxuries that only hot water and electricity can supply for my second year of university, this whole finding a job process is bloody difficult. Seeing as I have never had a job, the likelihood of me finding one is.. zilch. So instead of enduring another few painful hours of rejection, I thought I'd write a blog about it instead.

One of the 137,000 searching for a job in the UK

It's rather depressing to be perfectly honest. I am now at the desperate stage where I enter competitions to get some cash. I can't apply to jobs anymore because I can't find my National Insurance number - and even if I did, it would be covered in too thick a layer of dust to decipher.

It's common knowledge that the United Kingdom is in a triple dip recession at the moment, and it's no secret that South Wales is one of the hardest hit places. Being what the English, Scottish, Irish and North Walians refer to as 'a valleys girl,' I know the setbacks of Margaret Thatcher only too well. While most see my living in the hills as a negative thing, I can list some positives. In the recent Olympics, we contributed to team GB winning gold, silver, bronze... and tin and copper and lead. There are many wonderful things about living in the valleys, each as joyous as the next, but, again, that's for another blog.

Ever since the reign of the delightful Mrs. Thatcher, the economic viability of the valleys has been on the decline faster than the outgoings of my bank account. The current government has made some effort to persuade businesses to migrate to South Wales. Those with some sort of I.Q are wise to stay away from our streets with all those unemployed hooligans. Instead, they venture to the big city of London and get ransacked in riots. They were a big deal last August apparently, though I missed it while I blissfully spent my EMA in Disneyland.  The point is, I MISS HAVING MONEY. But I don't go out into the rough and tumble streets of Merthyr Tydfil and rummage through the leftover merchandise that the English send our way, to make up for our lack of sustainable business.

Desperate times. Desperate measures.

For the unwitting humans who reside in the valleys these days, the recession means several things: 
One - Someone, somehow, finds a job that they can maintain that pays enough to allow comfortable living. In the valleys. 

Two - You get out as quickly as you can and move to London to loot a hardware store. 

Three - You realise the mistake your ancestors made, and move away to realise your potential, (which you won't due to the recession.)

Four - You make the same mistake as your parents. 

Or five - You stay exactly where you are, but you don't get as lucky as your mate, Stan the street sweeper, and you live a life on benefits, being dubbed as a sponge and as trash.

While the Tories bang on about the benefits system not being a net, I am one of these people who is a firm believer that it all depends on circumstances. I know lots of people who have genuine need of the benefit system. Heck, if I were not a university student at the moment, I would be on benefits. We can get angry about it, we can protest, but it will not change the mindset of those who readily use the benefit system as a survival tool. It's understandable though; most people are genuinely better off on benefits, than being paid minimum wage to clean up the sick in the McDonalds queue. And sadly, the majority of the few jobs on offer in the valleys fit that exact criteria.

Surely, then, you understand my frustration, when I am constantly applying to jobs I don't even want to do and keep getting rejected while my families household income is depleted by the percentage of the population who simply don't want to work.  Additionally, employers base their perception of your worth as an employee on previous work experience, which, most people don't have because of the lack of jobs. And the lack of job stems from the poor economy, which stems from people not working , stemming from lack of jobs. We're in a vicious cycle. How do these big bad bosses expect me to get my first job if I have no work experience? I wish it was as easy as Norman Tebbit made it sound. .Norman Tebbit 

Unfortunately, I don't have a bike and, I have a heart that is slowly calcifying  and insufficient to do any sort of exercise

'He's on work experience' 

You need to have work experience, amazing grades, your own transport, (which most of us cannot afford), and a degree before you can even be considered to work in a factory slicing beef in Britain. Public transport is an absolute nightmare - getting to Cardiff from Merthyr takes nearly an hour on the train, which will cost you near enough to £8 if you are foolish enough want to return. Naturally, this makes life harder for the average working person or commuter.

Additionally, shops are closing down here, there and everywhere because they just cannot support themselves anymore. Companies are making changes to their full time contracts left, right and centre. People who are in jobs are being made redundant, sometimes without warning, and are left in the lurch by companies who are trying to keep up with the collapsing economy. While the recent Olympics may have added a little extra money into the governments back pockets, I doubt the taxpayer will see as much of it as David Cameron's wife will.

To our government, here's a word to the wise: I may be at university now, but, hopefully I'm going to do well and finish there within the next two years. I'm not excited about going into the world like most people my age should be - I'm trying to stay in education as long as possible to be within a chance of even finding a job as a grocer. I know it isn't the easiest of jobs, running a country and all, but something needs to be done about the rate of unemployment in the UK. I don't have an answer, but if I find one, I'll get back to you. Maybe then I'll finally get a job. As the next Prime Minister. Messing up Great Britain, one piece at a time, in the way only I can.