6 more stories

There are six new stories this entry all with quite different perspectives on the welfare system.  For all the people in this recent round of interviews the theme of conflict between their preferences and what they are required to do by employment services recurs.  By being classified as job seekers they are indiscriminately exposed to participation requirements and treatments by employment services agencies they find at best unhelpful, and generally patronising, demeaning and demoralising.  

 For all of these participants, various forms of capital (economic, social, cultural) enable and constrain their capacity to shape their own destinies and make choices that align with their preferences.  The degree to which their preferences are recognized and validated in their service exchanges directly impacts on the level of empowerment they have within the rules and economy of welfare to work. It is remarkable how in most part, the participants constantly talk about being square pegs being thumped into round holes, a finding about employment services that is hardly new yet which keeps being reproduced at every iteration of the contract.

I am currently interviewing workers whose stories will shed light on another side of the story, what it is like trying to work with the rules of the employment services system and how this impacts on their relationships with their un/underemployed clients.  The analysis from these interviews will explore how the square peg round hole phenomenon is reproduced through the practices workers are compelled to implement and the personal conflict this creates when worker values do not align with those of the “system”.

The latest stories from people subjected to the rules of welfare to work include:

Laura: A highly articulate and educated woman who has eschewed welfare because of the compliance and surveillance she considers dehumanising

Annie: A parent who has worked in skilled administrative jobs who had been forced to return to an abusive relationship because she cannot afford to live independently on Newstart after becoming homeless, who finds employment services make her jump through hoops but do no actually assist her in any useful way

Claudia: A highly qualified widow who has had an extremely confusing and frustrating time with her employment services agency who does not support her efforts to find work in her chosen field

Lisa: A student who has been grappling with finding seasonal work to accommodate her participation requirements and student workload, while also managing the demands of the employment service agency for her to take work

Cari: Another student who has found treatment by employment services to be degrading and demeaning; who has undertaken work for the dole

Jill: A young person who has been experiencing the transition from school to employment, and having difficulty managing the paperwork to apply for Austudy and Newstart especially because of she has reported income from baby-sitting work which classifies her as  self-employed.