Among the many serious challenges that will face an incoming government after the next election, one of the most urgent will be tackling Labour’s jobs crisis, which this year has seen almost 2,000 people a day lose their job. Although this has affected all sections of society and all parts of the country, it is a crisis that has particularly affected young people.
One in five young people cannot find a job. We have the highest level of youth unemployment in Europe. The task for a new government will be to support both the job-ready young people who are unemployed as a result of the recession as well as those who have become disengaged from work and training because of structural problems resulting from Labour’s long-term failures.
Tackling worklessness is not just a matter for one government department or agency. It is the job of all of us. We need small businesses freed from the regulations and red-tape that have hampered them. We need to promote science and innovation and develop new industries across the country. We need the economy to grow. We need volunteering opportunities and engagement with charities and social enterprises. And we need better education and more apprenticeships so that young people have the chance to succeed. The benefits of work for our young people go far beyond simply that of receiving an income. Worklessness doesn’t just result in poverty of wealth, it also creates poverty of aspiration and that is why it is so important that we intervene early to give young people the support they need.
A Conservative government will introduce a single, fully-funded integrated programme of welfare to work – The Work Programme – which will cover more people, intervene earlier and be more focused on results than the current system. In doing so, we will replace the various New Deal programmes as well as Pathways to Work, which have not had the success that many hoped for. Crucially, we will give faster help to those who need it most – the young and the long-term unemployed.
We believe a young person is in real need of help once they have been out of work for six months. Unlike Labour’s programmes we will not let young people wait ten or twelve months for specialist help; and unlike Labour’s Young Person’s Guarantee, which diverts young people away from welfare to work providers, we feel it is essential that this earlier intervention and increased support is an integrated part of welfare reform.
But during the recession we also recognise that job opportunities are harder to come by. So as part of our Youth Action for Work scheme we will provide extra training opportunities to supplement and compliment the Work Programme. Over two years we will create an additional 200,000 apprenticeships and training places, partly by offering incentives to small and medium sized enterprises. We will create up to 100,000 work pairing places to set young people up with sole traders. We will provide 100,000 additional training places with Further Education colleges – and by freeing them up from the bureaucracy of the Learning and Skills Council we will give them greater power to work with local partners to provide the courses that will be of most benefit to students.
The challenges that we face are great, and the context in which we face them daunting. Our society and our economy cannot afford to lose out on the potential that is currently being wasted. We can no longer write off young people who have something to offer. Giving them hope, and helping all our citizens to fulfil their promise, will be central to re-building a strong economy for the future.
( 8 comments ) Tags: New Deal, recession, The Work Programme, unemployment, Youth Action for Work
Comment by keltician on November 9, 2009 at 12:11 am
I do not think the problem concerns instilling aspirations. The more serious problem for the economy is lack of know-how being passed on. If graduate unemployment is running at high levels then a huge reservoir of talent is missing out on learning even the fundamentals of how to do things, whether it be training others, creativity, research or invention for the future. High levels of graduate unemployment must be tackled as a priority rather than mass unemployment palliatives. Attacking the latter is merely treating the symptoms but nurturing the former may at least provide real opportunities for the latter. Please do not waste the capital the country has invested in educating those graduates who are currently unemployed.
Comment by keltician on November 9, 2009 at 12:25 am
On reflection, I think we may be singing from the same song sheet but I see the impetus for recovery coming from a top down approach rather than tackling skilled levels first. I don’t disagree with an apprenticeship program that works and is adhered to. My skepticism is probably due to the number (and uselessness) of so many fanfared ‘initiatives’ in this field over the past 12 years. Perhaps an all embracing approach tackling tertiary and secondary student unemployment contemporaneously might be considered.
Comment by Angharad on November 9, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I have recently graduated and found it difficult to find employment because I don’t have relevant experience. I have had to attend the New Deal course and what I came across the most ws that employers won’t take on anyone without experience because it takes up too much of their time. Also most of the people couldn’t drive which made it difficult because of the lack of adequate public transport. The vast majority want to find employment but are not being given a chance. The New Deal course is a waste of time because there isn’t any opportunity to have proper one on one help and guidance. The Internships that the government have created are only accesible to this with money because most are unpaid so if you have bills to pay it is impossible to do as the Job Seekers Allowance would be stopped. Another issue I have had is the lack of flexibility involving part time courses, in my case I needed to do a 2 1/2 hour GCSE mathematics course to improve my chances of finding employment but was told I would have to give it up or stop claiming JSA. There is no quick fix to solving unemployment and that is what these courses are – a quick fix that hides the true figure of unemployment. It is refreshing to see a party that treats the unemployed with respect and I applaud Theresa May for that.
Comment by chris g on November 9, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Much of the emphasis here is about youth unemployment, but what about those slightly older who have been on the scrapheap for years? I’d like to know what Tories would do to get ‘all’ people back into the employment market?
There needs to be more emphasis on vocational training, rather than academic university based training. That’s what needs to be done.
Pingback by Further strange unemployment analysis from the Conservatives | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC on November 10, 2009 at 11:12 am
[...] Yesterday’s media suggests that they are at it again. First, they say that we have the highest levels of youth unemployment in Europe. This is accurate, but that is because we are a big country (our actual population of 15-24 year [...]
Comment by Anthony Lamb on November 11, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Dear Ms May, It is going to be a big task to get this country back to some sort of normality. There is no way we can sort out the job market unless the mortgage sector cleaned.
Mortgages are based on salaries. Salaries need to increase due to the large amount properties are asking. This isn’t going to happen.
Banks really need to go back to 3xmain or 3.5x joint. Therefore house prices need to come down dramatically to warrant a mortgage of 3xmain etc to buy a house, that will start the housing problem.
But everything we buy is over priced and need revaluing to ensure affordability. All businesses want their goods and services to remain at the current level to maintain profitability, but salaries do not merit the costs of goods and services (TV’s, car’s, houses, clothes, shoes, etc etc etc).
The whole country is being squeezed and the top dogs of industry do not give a stuff for the people who keep this country going……….the working classes.
It is really maddening to know that politicians DOL NOT know what is going on at street level. open your eyes and ears guys. Now.
Regards
Tony
Comment by Jan on November 15, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Sounds all laudable, but:
1) What will the Conservative party do for armies of sole traders, who right now cannot acquire enough business for a living and who are without any form of benefits?
2) With which sole traders are 100,000s of apprenticeships going to be created, when sole traders are struggling to survive themselves? Would you pay us a commercial rate for training apprentices?
3) Where are the job opportunities for those who finish training and for those who, after a rather squalid existence as sole trader, are seeking employment again?
While I’m still coping, several friends no longer are. One of them, made redundant 3 times in 3 years, after hundreds of applications still hasn’t found a job. I’m talking qualified managers, engineers and professionals, aged 50-65, unable to afford retirement, who are asking me what a prospective Conservative government would do to improve the situation.
Comment by Alan Ewen on December 9, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Dear Teresa
I am an experienced 43 year old manager and now unemployed for the 1st time. So I fit into the 24-50 age group where there seems to be no help whatsoever in finding new work of a similar nature. Listening to the PBR in the commons just now I see nothing for people like me. All I hear are lists of schemes to help the unemployed outside this age group so I now feel part of a lost generation of experienced professionalsa which are left to their own devices. What will the Conservatives do to improve the situation?