Work offers not piling up? Need cash? Become a medical guinea pig! Here’s how: With Phase 1 trials of new medicines you can make hundreds or thousands of pounds in a few days. The trials include a medical check-up that would cost hundreds of pounds in the private sector. However, they because these are the first time a drug is tested on humans there is a 0.02% risk of side-effects, from nausea to death. Interested? Speak to Icon or EnterTrials.co.uk. Men aged 18 to 45 and of regular weight are most in demand. If you’re not convinced, what other options do you have? Trials of dental treatments: often unpaid but can provide free procedures, such as crowns and implants. The British Dental Health Foundation has a list of the schools at bda. Market research can involve being paid to buy clothes or go to the pub. For instance, Retail Eyes, a research agency, sends its 179,000 members on up to 16,000 “mystery shopper” assignments a month - members use a shop or service and then report on the quality of the experience. £10 plus expenses and you often can keep the purchases. Non-shopping tasks might be nights in hotels or trips to the bookies. Result!

The eye-watering headlines around the construction industry continue unabated as digger firm JCB says it’s swinging the axe in the direction of 500 manufacturing and about 150 other jobs across the UK. The move is a result of a rapid decline in orders, which has led to a 20% decrease in the forecast production schedule for 2008. It’s a shame as the firm as seen a rise in demand for its products overseas, in markets such as Russia, the Middle East and Brazil, but that’s not enough to reverse the downturn here and in developed markets. The boss of JCB, Matthew Taylor, doesn’t expect things to pick up until late 2009 at the earliest. Cheers Matthew, you knob. (Sorry, I just want some good news!)

The “cyber-coolies” of India’s IT call centres have formed an “e-union” and are planning to target British and American clients in a campaign to improve their terms and conditions. Those who refuse may face a sabotage campaign by the same workers who have slashed their costs. India is the world’s top provider of business-process-outsourcing (BPO) call centres, and now generates over $30 billion (£15 billion) a year selling cheap back-office services. The secret of its success has been young graduates working nights for around £200 a month — less than a sixth of that earned by call-centre staff in Britain. “BPOunion” was formed recently following a dispute between Keane India — a multinational call centre and BPO company that provides IT support to Unipart. The company outraged call-centre workers when it sacked 400 staff without compensation. Now the cyber-coolies have warned they will target the company’s investors and clients unless the workers are reinstated or paid redundancy terms.