The Baltic-wide study “Let’s discover invisible people: what official statistics don’t tell us regarding the population and their problems” also reveals that this group has the motivation to work, but lacks social skills and adequate public support. However, it is possible to get these people out of the grip of long unemployment, experts say.
Gets caught in a vicious circle
The “invisibility” of thousands of people is caused by low education and poor financial literacy. Lacking social benefits, they end up in the shadow economy, resulting in lower incomes. Having lost access to financial services, they tend to evaluate themselves negatively.
“These people have a lot of motivation to work, but they don’t want to change.” Most people with less education are looking for concreteness and stability. These people divide work into two parts: it’s my job to do what I’m told, and the responsibility and understanding of why the work is being done is the boss’s or others’ business. Therefore, following losing their job, these people rarely take responsibility, even measured risks or innovations. However, they want to be hired, do a specific job and receive a specific salary on time,” says Sonata Patkauskaitė, head of the Lithuanian Samaritan community.
The thinking and worldview of the mentioned group of “invisible people” is negative – dissatisfaction with work, financial stress, uncertainty regarding the future affects their own health and relationships. Uncertainty regarding the future is a psychological aspect that can affect the quality of a person’s day-to-day decisions, creating a kind of vicious circle that those within it cannot overcome.
There are fewer opportunities for the unskilled and uneducated
Last year, every third (35.5%) job seeker registered with the Employment Service and granted the status of unemployed had no professional training.
The market is dominated by offers for qualified workers, and less vacancies are registered for unskilled work than people who want to work for such work, so lack of qualifications is one of the reasons why it is more difficult for unqualified people to get a job.
Currently, the Employment Service grants the status of preparing for the job market to people who have not worked for a long time, people with low qualifications, addictions and various personal problems.
Last year, 5.4 thousand people started participating in various employment programs. people, mostly people preparing for the labor market. The essence of these programs is the services of psychologists, lawyers or social workers, temporary employment. In 2024, 6.5 thousand are planned. persons to be included in programs for increasing employment.
“Low education and barriers to employment are linked, and for these reasons individuals experience great difficulties in the labor market. Most of them do not have in-demand professions and work skills required for today’s market, have one or more barriers to employment. Empowering oneself in such a way as to succeed in earning income becomes a challenge for such a person,” says Milda Jankauskienė, spokesperson of the Employment Service.
Lack of qualification is one of the reasons why it is more difficult for unqualified persons to get a job
Many do not seek social benefits
Some of these “invisible people” may have one or another job, but do not appear in social reports because they work illegally.
“People with lower education usually agree to do illegal work. They are also often individuals who are easier to “exploit”. “Employers often fool people with lower education – they deduct certain hours of non-working hours, they pay wages irregularly and not on time, illegally,” notes S. Patkauskaitė.
People in low-skilled jobs often don’t have a financial cushion, so they rush to start work because income is simply vital. They are very eager for overtime, shift work, because it is extra money.
“The best working life scenario, according to such people: I left one salaried job and went to another salaried job. These are individuals who understand that money is earned, not received. They hardly react to unemployment benefits and social benefits”, says the interviewer.
How can I help this group?
For this group of “invisible people”, low education, which determines specific beliefs regarding the functioning of society and finances, prevents them from achieving their goals. This leads to a negative emotional state, which does not always allow them to change the course of their lives. They need an external boost.
People often choose to become invisible themselves, but even more often it is due to gaps in the social assistance system. The head of the Lithuanian Samaritan community notes that often state institutions that have to take care of socially vulnerable people are happy with the excellent statistics of those who apply to them, but they do not bring real benefits.
Non-governmental organizations might play a bigger role here, but according to S. Patkauskaitė, their contribution is often underestimated. According to her, it is very important to create such a system that can distinguish between “professional” applicants for state money and discover those who really need help.
“These are people who are not used to living with an outstretched hand, often do not dare to ask for help. A person looking for a job, who hits a wall called “we will call you” several times in a row, closes in on himself, his self-esteem diminishes. Some of these people do not even apply to the Employment Service or the local authorities to receive benefits – they are ashamed.
Unfortunately, budget organizations still see NGOs as competitors rather than partners. Maybe in the future we will learn to work together, and, it must be admitted, there are some shifts, but they are small. That’s why now the information of the state institution is not shared”, says the interviewer.
She also mentions the possibility of creating a certain system of assistants – specialists from various social fields might help people to enter the labor market more easily.
“An assistant might be one of the solutions. They might write CVs for people, attend job interviews together, make phone calls and arrange meetings. Especially since it would be an excellent mediator and helper not only for the unemployed, but also for the employer. It would be like an intermediate link”, says S. Patkauskaitė.
Another thing she thinks might help people who are out of work, looking for work, and people with less education in general is social skills training that teaches them how to live on a small salary, how to set their own agenda, avoid bad habits, present themselves to employers, etc.
The experts who conducted the research also singled out such areas as increasing financial literacy, reducing financial anxiety, and improving emotional health. In order to teach them how to manage their finances better, experts advise such people to organize loan management consultations.
Every fifth Lithuanian is “invisible”, because no one notices the weight and deep traces of their problems. Invisible People is a social project to help them be seen. You can find more regarding the project and the “invisibility” test here.
The research was carried out by Riga University of Business, Arts and Technologies RISEBA, Tallinn University of Technology, Vytautas the Great University together with the Latvian research companies “Ex Novo” and “Motive Development”, with the help of the international company “IPF Digital”.
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2024-04-29 10:39:15
