Minimum wage, minimum security

As a young unemployed person living in East London the Olympics were painted as a brilliant chance for me to find work, not only within the Olympic park but also in other businesses in the surrounding areas.

In reality, as I found out, these jobs are minimum wage, with short-term contracts and extremely insecure.

The outlet I am working in posted an advert for eight empty positions of which around three would become permanent.

All new members of staff are on three-month probations and 25 hour contracts, although we have all been asked to work as many as 50 hours each week during the Olympics. It has become obvious that extra staff will not be needed after the Olympics.

We will see a massive surge in unemployment in East London then. Me and the other young people I work with (many who have just graduated from university with large debts) will be unemployed again.

Helen Pattison

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