UK youth jobs crisis needs bigger employment support investment

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UK youth jobs crisis support

Highlights

Trades Union Congress urges significant increase in employment support investment over benefit cuts, targeting nearly 1 million young people not in education, employment, or training.
Polling by Focaldata for the Jobs Foundation ranks youth jobs crisis as one of the UK’s top issues, with a national campaign launched and backing from Amazon, Pret a Manger, NatWest, Marks & Spencer, and Shell.
Government has pledged £2.5 billion for youth employment support to create almost 500,000 earn-and-learn opportunities, pending further reform after the Milburn review in autumn.

Pressure builds before Milburn review

As first reported by The Guardian, Trades Union Congress general secretary Paul Nowak says resolving the UK's youth jobs crisis requires ministers to sharply increase investment in employment support rather than rely on benefit reductions. Speaking before the publication of Alan Milburn's review, he says the government has a "once in a generation chance" to improve young people's prospects and strengthen the wider economy.

Nowak argues that higher spending on job support, education and training would pay off through stronger economic growth and less pressure on the welfare system. He says there is no cost-free solution and that ministers need to invest not only in physical infrastructure but also in what he describes as social infrastructure.

Ministers are braced for recommendations that could include welfare cuts to help fund support for nearly 1 million young people who are not in education, employment or training. The report is delayed until after the budget amid concerns that such proposals would sit uneasily alongside the chancellor's tax and spending plans.

Business backing and political risks

Nowak says increased investment would help reduce the benefits bill by moving more young people into work, while warning against repeating earlier reforms that imposed cuts on vulnerable people without sufficient employment support. He is urging the government to focus on a step change in assistance rather than use tougher rules as the main response.

Concern over youth unemployment is also rising more broadly. Polling by Focaldata for the Jobs Foundation shows many Britons now rank the youth jobs crisis among the country's biggest problems, behind only the cost of living and ahead of NHS waiting lists, housing, crime and immigration.

The Jobs Foundation is launching a national campaign on Monday backed by employers including Amazon, Pret a Manger, NatWest, Marks & Spencer and Shell, which have pledged to support young people who have been overlooked for work. A government spokesperson says ministers have already pledged 2.5 billion pounds for youth employment support, aimed at delivering almost 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, with further reform due after the Milburn review is published in the autumn.

Our earlier coverage of Chancellor John Healey’s deficit-reduction stance ahead of the October Budget outlined his commitment to sticking with an IMF-backed plan while still trying to support growth. We also noted the UK’s modest 0.1% GDP rise in August and the mounting political pressure around how far the government can go on taxes, welfare and wider structural reforms without undermining its growth agenda.

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