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I think it's quite common now for loads of qualified people to do menial work, wherever they come from. British graduates also now often have to wait on tables, do barwork or work as shop assistants. When I graduated over 20 years ago, my first job was as a care assistant for adults with learning difficulties and that was after a period of unemployment so plus ça change, in some respects. There has always been some mismatch between the level and type of some people's qualifications and actual number of jobs in those fields. It's more the degree of desperation and lack of hope now, which is greatly accentuated in Spain. I wonder what it's doing to the younger teenagers in school, how they're viewing their futures, or maybe it's mostly the parents worrying and children remaining in blissful ignorance.
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Just read your reply, eggie, and I want to say 'Thank you'. Intercambios is a great idea. I hadn't thought about that angle and, of course, there must be Spaniards that want to improve their English.
I love the fact that you 'pay' your neighbours for keeping an eye on your Spanish place by helping them out in ways other than cash....just as rewarding but without any money changing hands...much friendlier.
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I have a lodger in my house from Alicante, near to where I own an apartment. She has come over to the UK to work in a restaurant in a shopping centre, a Spanish tapas chain. Her English is only improving slowly due to the fact she only speaks Spanish at work. This week her sister is arriving, and has found a flat, to share. The sister is not really bothered about finding work as she will be signing on for benefit to pay her rent etc. Although she thinks that shops like Mango will give her a job as they are Spanish. It is commendable that they are willing to move but they also have the idea that there are plentiful jobs here in the UK. Both girls have business degrees from Spain, but they do not seem to grasp that jobs are scarce here too.
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Is that right that a Spanish person can come to the UK, get income support and Local Housing Allowance? I would have thought they'd have to work here for a while first? Otherwise, I'd expect an enormous influx of Spaniards, Greeks and so on into the UK...
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Yes they can as anyone from the EU can. Why do you think people come ? Saying that I suppose I could claim it in Spain too.
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christinejoyce
02 Dec 2012 23:51
Yes they can as anyone from the EU can. Why do you think people come ? Saying that I suppose I could claim it in Spain too.
Now you are dreaming ! There isn't any & anything that is available you have to know about as the staff at the job-centres/ soc.sec . offices , etc; certainly won't help you unless you know what is available & what to ask for !
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Todos somos Lorca.
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I just can't see it. If the UK granted income support and Local Housing Allowance to anyone in the European Union, our population would double overnight with all of the unemployed in Europe coming to stay, especially as their is no Local Housing Allowance/Housing Benefit in Spain and presumaby many other countries.
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My account of moving to Spain. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/olives.aspx"><img
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eggcup - that is the way it works unfortunately, the UK welfare system is a free for all.
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Let's get deeply into debt. 
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Why do you think we are all struggling, latest news is 100k new homes need to be built for new incoming EU population and birth rate inflated in my local health authority by 25% from non uk birth mothers. Read weekend UK papers from this week. It is a saturation point. But I agree it is worse in Spain, so rather than France or Germany where benefit is more controlled UK is best option. My lodgers sister arrived today and has already hit the job centre after dumping her bags. I do not intend to do her paperwork, but she is requesting an interpreter!ho hum.
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I think it is not at all easy for Spanish people to get jobs abroad, particularly because they often do not have a lot of confidence speaking another language. Children in our village aged 13 have been learning English for 10 years in school and will scarcely risk saying 'Hello, my name is Juan.'
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Before this spirals into a thread about the UK being a "soft touch" and "full of immigrants", can we just be clear that more than 3,000,000 Brits live abroad, more than from any other EU country. Also, in 2010, 350,000 Brits moved abroad, while 216,000 people moved to Britain. So let's put to bed this myth that the UK is some kind of magnet. Secondly, l agree with Sanchez that Spanish people can get work in the UK. The example of my Exeter chap shows that they can find work, then get jobs for their friends / rellies. Badly-paid work, but those employers had vacancies and for whatever reason Brits didn't want to do them. My friend who is a farmer in Somerset brings 50 pickers over every summer, houses them well, and even flies them back to their country for a week in the middle of their work contract, because Brits don't want to pick tomatoes and potatoes. Finally, Christinejoyce mentions "saturation point". Just look at parts of Spain's costas ..... THAT's what l would call saturation - when you can't actually find a cafe with a menu in Spanish!
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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I dont think its a myth Tamaraessex
The statistics speak for themselves.
Many people go for good reasons but i think the % is higher for people going knowing full well they will be "looked after".
Cheers
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I on the whole agree with Tammara, but I will reiterate that my saturation point referred to the NHS services, who I work for. Caffs in the costas I do agree and it's the reason why in my village where I own that I decided from the outset to go to the Spanish cafes and not the tea like mother makes joints.
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For the past few years, each year we have had a couple of Spanish tenants in our rental houses. They often bring some money over, stay for six months, during which time they either do an English language course (despite having spent years learning it in school) or look for work. One stayed for a year and then went back as he just couldn't find enough work and others have stayed for six months and then gone back to Spain. The same has happened with French tenants in their twenties; getting a few hours work in Cafe Rouge and not being able to manage on the amount they earn. Years ago we had a couple of Spanish pharmacists renting our house and they may still be in the UK, having a profession and a good command of the language. I think the majority of work that Spaniards are likely to get, when they do not have an excellent command of the language and can't easily 'convert' their qualifications so that they are accepted in the foreign country, is likely to be poorly-paid, menial and seasonal. But if it gets them out of being unemployed in Spain for a while with all that entails (depression, feelings of low worth and so on), then it is better than nothing. I think they really should try and line something up in the UK or wherever, before they leave Spain, though, or it can just become a long, expensive and frustrating 'holiday.' The same now goes for some British people going to Spain, 'assuming' that they will be able to find work in Spain - we sometimes get people with this approach on the Forum.
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