This BBC article contrasts the current government party and opposition proposals primarily aimed at 18 to 21-year-olds. What I feel when I hear the references to unemployed people being sent on "Community Service" is that it implies a tar with the same brush as those sent on it as a sentence for crimes, and the article ends with even a spokesman for the smaller coalition partner party criticised the main government party proposals as "all stick, no carrot", saying they were designed to "punish" rather than to help people into work. Another point is will reading "Community Service" on a CV make an employer infer that it was as a sentence for crime and immediately write the applicant off on that assumption?
The opposition party has promised the same people a guaranteed job, so even if the jobs were of the "Community Service" type occupation they would be paid at minimum wage. This guarantee would be paid for by a tax on bankers' bonuses, which I agree is much needed.
