There is a core of unemployed in any modern economy that we find very hard to get back into work. Today’s newspapers carried reports of a new variant on the carrot and stick approach with council house applicants facing the possibility of having to sign a contract committing themselves to look for work if they want to remain on the waiting list for public housing.

A more positive approach to finding sustainable work for the long-term unemployed is shown in this brief av clip from BBC Scotland which lauds the work done by the Wise Group over the last quarter of a century. It is a really good clip to use when teaching strategies to bring down structural unemployment and ties in neatly with the growth of interest in social enterprise.

The Wise Group

According to their website

‘The Wise Group is one of the UK’s leading social enterprises providing work-focused solutions to social exclusion. Our 420 staff operate professionally and competitively to support unemployed people from locations across Scotland and the North East of England find and keep a job and to provide regeneration and sustainability services for some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.’