Challenging times

Backing Young Britain must be the start - not the end - of the government's drive to save a generation of young people from this recession

Young people continue to be at greatest risk in the middle of this recession. The combination of school and college leavers plus university graduates looking for work whilst unemployment rises makes this a really challenging summer.

48 graduates are chasing every job on offer this year according to a study by the Association of Graduate Recruiters. And with more young people graduating from university each year than in past recessions - all with some form of debt to pay back - the need to take action is vital.

We cannot just let the recession take its course, as the Tories did and as they essentially still advocate today. The government needs to be pro-active in helping young people struggling to find employment.

The Backing Young Britain campaign launched a few weeks ago suggests ministers recognise the urgency of creating opportunities for young people, building up their skills and experience to help them find employment.

For school leavers aged 16 there will be a guaranteed place in education, training or an apprenticeship up to the age of 18.

Businesses and local councils will be able to bid for a share of £1bn to create up to 47,000 jobs for the young unemployed, providing jobs for up to six months paid at the minimum wage. This would obviously be an excellent opportunity for young people to add experience to their CV but it is crucial that businesses on the ground are made aware of this money and encouraged to bid for a slice if it is to make any difference.

Over £40m will be invested in internships to be advertised through the Graduate Pool website and funding will also be provided for mentoring schemes and job clubs to help those young people who are unemployed.

Funding has also been made available so that 500 students can take part in gap year expeditions to help rural communities in places such as South America and India. Experience of working abroad on community and environmental volunteering projects can help develop crucial leadership and communication skills. It's just the sort of innovative scheme that's needed, although the £1000 contribution from those participating will still be a barrier to those from the poorest backgrounds.

If put into place properly these opportunities can really help young people, providing support and advice as well as employment and volunteering opportunities to build up their skills and experiences.

But with 300,000 young people graduating this year alone a few hundred places here and there isn't enough. These schemes need to be expanded and rolled out across the country so that more young people can benefit from them.

The challenge will become greater still next week when thousands of young people get their A level results but have no job or university place to go to. Again, the government has recognised the problem with 10,000 extra university places. But the scale of the challenge means this risks being a small drop in a large ocean.

Backing Young Britain has the potential to be a great campaign which genuinely makes a difference to the prospects of tens of thousands of young people. But to fulfil that promise this needs to be the start - not the end - of the government's drive to save a generation of young people from the worst effects of this recession.

Stephanie Peacock is the youth representative on the Labour party’s National Executive Committee

Comments

Posted by Ray McHale on 11 August 2009, 9:14:43 PM
The voice of radical youth? I think not. Bring back the Militant Tendency.

Posted by Wes Streeting on 12 August 2009, 5:44:34 PM
Yes, because Militant did a bang up job protecting working class people under the Tories...

Posted by Ray McHale on 15 August 2009, 1:24:09 AM
They made it clear to young people that either you tried to end capitalism, and replace it with what the Labour Party used to call Socialism - or you end up trying to run capitalism better than the Capitalists a la Tony Blair / Gordon Brown. Remember "no more boom and bust". Ha ha ha. All this posing on this website is about getting yourselves well paid jobs in some Labour (or Tory) administration. It is a million miles from anything to do with working class youth.