Is it worth staying at work?

thespecialon

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Basically my OH has taken a fairly hefy pay cut recently coupled with the levies etc....I was working out her wages today and basically she only gets around €366 a week Net for 40hours work...

IF she left work she would get around 200Eur or so social welfare I believe,so basically would only be losing around €30 eur per day of work..

Taking into account the other costs associated with being at work - travel costs etc and not to mention the fairly hefy amount of stress she has to deal with(she is a manager in retail),my advice to her was to leave her job and take some time off and relax.

We are getting married this year so she will have plenty to keep her busy and is looking at doing a course part-time to branch into a different career..Also a few of her friends are home from Aus and others dont have work at the moment so for 30eur less per day she can do as they have being doing for last couple weeks and take advantage of the nice weather


I know from a strict enconomic view point that she will be 30 Eur a day worse off but taking the other life factors into account,I genuinely belive she should take some time off!I also relaise the jobs market is tough and may not get back to work as easily in a year or so.

Any opinions?
 
IF she left work she would get around 200Eur or so social welfare
- but the principal of her on Job Seekers should be that she is available for work. Yes I do see your issue in that with everything she may as well be on the dole.. but what happens if the dole is cut in the budget! And it may well be.. As it makes no sence to have a social welfare system that practically makes it more worth your wile not working...
There is another side to this as well, over time your salary will increase and the reality is while you are working you do get gainful experience. I have a friend and while financially it makes no sence (the costs of child care for three young children!) she has just taken a job with a company and really at the moment she is just paying for childcare.. However she is looking (rightfully) at the long term perspective of her career and knows that in a couple of years there will be no child care costs and her salary will have increased...
 
Basically my OH has taken a fairly hefy pay cut recently coupled with the levies etc....I was working out her wages today and basically she only gets around €366 a week Net for 40hours work...

IF she left work she would get around 200Eur or so social welfare I believe,so basically would only be losing around €30 eur per day of work..

Taking into account the other costs associated with being at work - travel costs etc and not to mention the fairly hefy amount of stress she has to deal with(she is a manager in retail),my advice to her was to leave her job and take some time off and relax.

We are getting married this year so she will have plenty to keep her busy and is looking at doing a course part-time to branch into a different career..Also a few of her friends are home from Aus and others dont have work at the moment so for 30eur less per day she can do as they have being doing for last couple weeks and take advantage of the nice weather


I know from a strict enconomic view point that she will be 30 Eur a day worse off but taking the other life factors into account,I genuinely belive she should take some time off!I also relaise the jobs market is tough and may not get back to work as easily in a year or so.

Any opinions?

Only that it is easier to get a job while in a job. So why does she not look to get another job now!

I have never claimed social welfare so I dont know the rules but I thought that you had to be seeking employment rather than relaxing planning a wedding!
 
Do you get SW when you voluntarily leave a job ? Is there not a 6wk delay or something ?
 
I have never claimed social welfare so I dont know the rules but I thought that you had to be seeking employment rather than relaxing planning a wedding!


I have never claimed it either nor has she but I know her friends arent looking particullary hard and there dosent seem to be a problem there,so why should she be stressed out from work and planning a wedding at the same time for 30Eur extra a day?
 
Do you get SW when you voluntarily leave a job ? Is there not a 6wk delay or something ?

To be honest we havent looked into it,but even if there was a 6week wait it wouldnt be a major issue..I am also sure her employer could furnish her with a letter that due to tough trading conditions they had to leave some staff go(Obvioulsly not legally or morally correct)
 
- but the principal of her on Job Seekers should be that she is available for work. Yes I do see your issue in that with everything she may as well be on the dole.. but what happens if the dole is cut in the budget! And it may well be.. As it makes no sence to have a social welfare system that practically makes it more worth your wile not working...
There is another side to this as well, over time your salary will increase and the reality is while you are working you do get gainful experience. I have a friend and while financially it makes no sence (the costs of child care for three young children!) she has just taken a job with a company and really at the moment she is just paying for childcare.. However she is looking (rightfully) at the long term perspective of her career and knows that in a couple of years there will be no child care costs and her salary will have increased...


To be honest I dont think the dole will be cut it would be complete political sucide..I think they will go after something like taxing childrends allowance etc, they will also go after public sector pay rates id imagine

I do take your point about gainful experience and it is a valid point to think about
 
I have never claimed it either nor has she but I know her friends arent looking particullary hard and there dosent seem to be a problem there,so why should she be stressed out from work and planning a wedding at the same time for 30Eur extra a day?
And thats why we have a social welfare system - so time can be taken to plan a wedding! Look it is a personal question that only both of you can answer - however I wouldn't advise it - because then you are at the mercy of the state - what would happen if the dole was cut to €125 pw - would/could you manage.. As this is what could very well happen. It is a well known fact that our welfare system is too generous. And the reality is tax payers cannot afford it.

While quitting work may sould like a good short-term solution, if things do change and SW is cut and your partner needs to return to work - she could find that she is de skilled. Despite the fact that she has done courses (the reality is experience is everything in the work force)...And a couple of years you could find that you are in a poverty trap...As has been posted before... it is easier to get a job while working...
 
To be honest we havent looked into it,but even if there was a 6week wait it wouldnt be a major issue..I am also sure her employer could furnish her with a letter that due to tough trading conditions they had to leave some staff go(Obvioulsly not legally or morally correct)

I appreciate the maths side of your post but I think you really need to look at it from the other side of life. If we all decided that we would be better off on social welfare nobody would be working to pay the social welfare. I know you are not suggesting that you are going to this extreme but you are openly willing to do something that you have admitted is not legally or morally correct!!!
 
Look to be honest i do appreciate all the social and ecomoic conseques of this decision...Basically I am the main earner and we are lucky enough to be in a fairly priviledged financial situation,we have zero outgoiing really,own our own home outright already and have some decent assets(mainly inherited to be fair but we cant change our parents!!)..

It just annoys me when I see my OH coming home stressed from work and she works very hard - to end up with a tiny amount of money more than her mates but arent lifting a finger and heading to the beach every other day?

For me personlly I have to work the boredon and lack of purpose would kill me,id work for less than 200 Eur a week..But this wouldnt be a problem for my OH so thats why I gave her my opinion on wht she should do!!!
 
Well if your OH wanted to take a break after you get married she would have to live off your so why dont you make her a lady of leisure now rather than commit fraud!
 
Well if your OH wanted to take a break after you get married she would have to live off your so why dont you make her a lady of leisure now rather than commit fraud!


I though if you have enough prsi contributions you can claim for a year? then after that you are means tested?
 
At the expense of people who really need it!


Fair point and I agree completely,we could survive if she wasnt bringing any money in..
But my question is why shouldnt she claim what she is entitled to,if she feels the stress of work etc isnt worth the extra few bob a day she is getting?
And lets be honest she wouldnt be the only one doing it!!
 
I have the say the way the system is setup , I cant agree with that

Just because her friends are doing it dosen't make it right.
The right thing for her to do if she wants to give up work is to give it up and not claim anything untill she is genuinly looking for work.
She isnt entitled to it if she isnt looking for work.
There is a lot of people out there who would be delighted to be in her position and while i can see what you are saying it is more of an indication of the generous social welfare system.
If she can afford not to work and isnt looking for work she shouldnt be claiming Job Seekers.
 
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Fair point and I agree completely,we could survive if she wasnt bringing any money in..
But my question is why shouldnt she claim what she is entitled to,if she feels the stress of work etc isnt worth the extra few bob a day she is getting?
And lets be honest she wouldnt be the only one doing it!!

She is not entitled to it because she is in employment! If she is not happy in her job now she wont be happy in 12 months time so she should consider a change of career.

What sort of society would we have if we all looked at people who broke the law and thought "well everyone is doing it"!
 
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