YNOT – The British press is aflutter with reports that Jobcentre Plus offices in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Shropshire have allowed an adult entertainment company to post employment opportunities.Jobcentre offices are the British equivalent of unemployment offices in the U.S. They are funded by tax dollars.
The jobs, which offer teenage girls a chance to earn more than £700 (about U.S. $1,000) weekly, were posted by phone-sex website Faceclick.co.uk. The ads state the work requires sexually specific conversations and “activities that you feel comfortable with” on camera.
Some job seekers have been shocked when presented with the offers, according to the Birmingham Mail.
“My job in a call centre is a fixed-term contract that’s coming to an end, and I’ve just taken out a car loan so I’m desperate for work,” one anonymous 19-year-old woman who sought clerical work told the Mail. “But I’m not so desperate that I’m prepared to perform disgusting acts on an internet sex line.”
Legislators and watchdog groups reportedly are outraged. Birmingham Member of Parliament Khalid Mahmood has demanded an official inquiry into Jobcentre Plus policies, and Mediawatch-UK has demanded the immediate removal of the ads.
“Can you imagine being the parent of an 18-year-old who is sent down to the job centre and offered that sort of job?” a Mediawatch-UK spokeswoman said. “It’s just one step away from prostitution, and it’s hardly a meaningful job for life is it?”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions, of which Jobcentre Plus is a division, told the Mail the centres are required to post all ads that offer legal employment, whether or not everyone considers the positions moral. In 2003, the department lost a High Court battle to erotic clothing retailer Ann Summers, which successfully argued it should be allowed to list its vacancies with Jobcentre Plus.
“We are aware of public concern about advertising these vacancies,” the spokeswoman told the Mail. “However, adult entertainment jobs are clearly marked that applicants must be aged 18 or over. Our staff do not actively promote these vacancies to our customers. It would be up to them to express an interest in applying and to ask for further information.”
