The recent announcements about the Government’s points-based immigration proposals have prompted some discussion among a number of my Facebook chums on how, exactly, one job’s worth can be compared with another.  Care workers, for example, are often cited in this regard.

Well, there are instruments for evaluating the relative worth of jobs – I myself used to be a licensed practitioner of these.  They might centre on the level of accountability, the physical demands of the job, the number of staff under supervision, the independence of decision-making or the extent of budgetary control.  Not objective, of course, but nevertheless pre-agreed as criteria with the trade unions or workers’ representatives.

My own assessment of “unskilled” is a little more rudimentary these days.  I would gauge an activity “unskilled” if I or anyone else could do it with no training or previous expertise.

Like poetry, for example.