From: Subject: Youth unemployment figures raise spectre of Thatcher's Britain | Society | The Guardian Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 17:11:11 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_003D_01CAA9AA.E0DFFAB0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_003D_01CAA9AA.E0DFFAB0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/12/youth-unemployment-rate-bristol =EF=BB=BF Youth unemployment = figures raise spectre of Thatcher's Britain | Society | The = Guardian

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Youth unemployment figures raise spectre of = Thatcher's=20 Britain

Alan=20 Travis, home affairs editor
guardian.co.uk,=20 Wednesday 12 August 2009 20.08 BST

=20

Dan Tucker and Grant Aherne in the Hartcliffe = district of=20 Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt

The emergence of mass youth unemployment on a scale not seen since = the early=20 1990s was confirmed by today's jobless figures, raising the spectre of a = new=20 generation scarred by being locked out of the labour market.

The detailed figures showed that since the recession began, = unemployment=20 among under-25s has risen from 700,000 in February 2008, to 928,000 this = June.

The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24 who are actively seeking = work is now=20 nearly one in five =E2=80=93 19.1% =E2=80=93 of their age group and just = short of the all-time=20 record set in March 1993. The adult unemployment rate has risen from = 3.6% to=20 7.8%.

The situation among 16 and 17-year-olds who left school in the last = year is=20 particularly acute, with 31.7% of those looking for work now officially=20 unemployed.

But it is the speed with which this new youth jobless crisis has = arrived that=20 is most alarming to ministers.

It is widely accepted that unemployment is a "lagging indicator" that = kicks=20 in some months after a recession has taken a bite out of economic = output.

But this set of figures reveals a spectacular 75% rise in the number = of 18 to=20 24-year-olds who are being paid jobseeker's allowance =E2=80=93 those = who might be=20 termed the hardcore unemployed, who have passed all the obstacles to = claim the=20 benefit.

This is an increase from 201,500 a year ago to 472,000 in June, who = are being=20 paid up to =C2=A350.95 a week on the dole. This has not yet reached the = levels of=20 Thatcher's Britain in the 1980s, when more than a million young people = were on=20 benefits. But it is already higher than the levels seen in the early = 1990s under=20 John Major when Gordon Brown cut his teeth on Labour's frontbench, = complaining=20 about a "lost generation" of teenagers created by a recession "made in = Downing=20 Street".

This crisis is set to worsen when this year's estimated 300,000 = graduates and=20 400,000 school leavers try to find work.

The TUC's general secretary, Brendan Barber, said: "With over one in = six=20 young people out of work, unemployment is already at crisis level."

Young people have been far harder hit by unemployment than any other = age=20 group. Nearly 200,000 of the 573,000 made jobless in the last year were = aged 18=20 to 24.

The statistics confirm that the first thing companies do in a = recession is=20 stop recruiting new staff, and it is the young who are hardest hit. The=20 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in May found half of = employers=20 were not planning to recruit any school leavers or graduates this = summer.

An emergency package of measures to tackle youth unemployment was top = of the=20 cabinet's agenda at its last meeting before the summer recess. The work = and=20 pensions secretary, Yvette = Cooper, had=20 been told by her officials to stop worrying about unfulfilled = predictions of a=20 "white collar recession", and instead sound the alarm over youth=20 unemployment.

Officials are particularly worried that those who struggle to find = work will=20 never acquire the "work habit", and slip into long-term = unemployment.

The government's answer is a =C2=A31bn future jobs fund which aims to = create=20 150,000 jobs by giving businesses and local authorities the chance to = bid for=20 =C2=A36,500 per young person to create a worthwhile job that is of = benefit to the=20 community. The job must last six months and pay at least the minimum = wage. An=20 extra 20,000 internships and 50,000 more apprenticeships a year were = also=20 agreed.

This initiative is being supplemented with the "Backing Young = Britain"=20 campaign, which urges business to help fulfil the aims of giving every = young=20 person a job, a training place, an apprenticeship or work experience. = Critics=20 say it will be little more than a rerun of the 1980s youth training = scheme which=20 enabled employers to exploit school leavers as cheap labour with little = in the=20 way of training. The minimum wage is designed to avoid that.

The recession could mean the government's plan to raise the school = leaving=20 age to 18 happens sooner than intended. But the education system is not = well=20 placed: universities have seen a 10% increase in demand for places this = October,=20 but the Treasury-imposed cap means at least 20,000 well-qualified school = leavers=20 will be left without a place.

Society

Social=20 exclusion =C2=B7
Young=20 people

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Unemployment and employment statistics

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More on this story
Case=20 studies: Teenagers hunt for work in Bristol
Audio:=20 'It's horrible, I can't do anything'
Audio:=20 Sue Regan on training for young people
In=20 pictures: fears for a lost generation
Video:=20 The view from the dole queue
Editorial:=20 The mounting scrapheap

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