Category Archives: Youth unemployment

Youth Contract shrouded in mystery as Minister refuses to publish data

Ministers are refusing to publish any data for the Youth Contract more than one year after the flagship scheme began. In a response to a Parliamentary Question Ministers pushed back the date for release data again amidst growing rumours that the scheme is failing.

 

Three years after this government came to power youth unemployment is still hovering around the million mark – and still higher than it was at in May 2010.

 

The Youth Contract began in April 2012. The main part of the scheme is a wage subsidy of £2,275 to employers if they employ a young person who has been unemployed for nine months. In the 2011 Autumn Statement the Government boasted that the Youth Contract would offer 160,000 wage incentives to employers.

 

Ministers originally promised to release data in “early 2013”, yet in response to my parliamentary question last month asking when the statistics for the wage subsidy will be released, ministers could not give us a date.

 

Almost a million young people are locked out of work but the government’s flagship Youth Contract is nowhere to be seen. Ministers are hiding the scheme in the very same way they hid the Work Programme, and that turned out to be performing worse than doing nothing.

 

Britain is in the middle of a youth jobs crisis that shows no sign of ending – we simply cannot allow government schemes to continue to fail. Ministers must now come clean, publish the results they have been hiding and bring forward a real plans to get our young people back to work, starting with Labour’s Real Jobs Guarantee.

 

You can read the FT’s report here .

 

With youth unemployment, David Cameron is letting down a generation

The impact of the David Cameron’s failed policies to get jobseekers back to work has been revealed as figures show how since they took office long term youth unemployment has risen to over 70,000.

Labour has called for a compulsory Real Jobs Guarantee for young people paid for with a tax on bankers’ bonuses to get any young person out of work for more than a year back into a job – a job they must take or lose their benefits.

There are currently 73,585 young people across Britain stuck in long term unemployment. Urgent action is needed to kickstart our flatlining economy. Instead of more of the same failing policies, Labour would introduce a proper plan for jobs and growth.

David Cameron is letting down a generation of young people who have been out of work for more than a year and struggle to find work.

Youth unemployment has gone through the roof under this Tory-led Government, and ministers have failed to produce an alternative to Labour’s successful Future Jobs Fund.

We desperately need a change of direction. Labour would take decisive action to get young people into work with a compulsory jobs guarantee to give the long-term unemployed a job, which they will have to take up or lose their benefits.

 

Britain’s youth jobs crisis is holding a generation back

 

In the last 12 months there were 101,000 young people who passed the 12-month mark in their JSA claim.

As a consequence of the Government’s economic failure, these young people have been scarred by long-term unemployment.

One of the long-term impacts of this is lower wages for these young people in the future.

Based on an analysis of research by academics published in the Labour Economics journal, this group could earn £4,200 less 20 years down the line.

Britain’s youth job crisis isn’t just costing us a fortune, it’s holding a whole generation back.

100,000 young people have been locked out of work for more than a year. That’s a terrible waste of potential and could hit them in the pocket for the rest of their lives.

Ministers must stop standing on the side lines and bring in Labour’s real jobs guarantee to get anyone long-term under 25 into a real paid job – one they would be required to take.

The Detail

 

According to the Office for National Statistics’ latest unemployment statistics, between March 2012 and March 2013, there were 101,000 young people who passed the 12-month mark in their JSA claim.

Long-term unemployment for young people has a scarring impact on their future employment chances and their wages.

According to research by academics at Bristol University and UCL, men in their forties who had been unemployed for over a year in their youth had earnings around 13% lower than those who had not been unemployed.[i]

Median pay for men aged 40-49 working full time in 2012 was £622 per week, equivalent to around £32,450 a year.[ii]

13 per cent represents lost earnings of around £4,200 a year.


[i] For men aged 42 in the year 2000, those who had been unemployed for 13 months or more when aged 16-23 had earnings around 13% lower than those who had not been unemployed (after adjusting for family and individual characteristics, occupation and industry).

Paul Gregg and Emma Tominey, The wage scar from male youth unemployment, Labour Economics 12 (2005) 487 – 509

http://www.statoek.wiso.uni-goettingen.de/veranstaltungen/statistical%20consulting/Gregg_Tominey.pdf

 

Budget day shows that George Osborne has failed Birmingham

“Budget day shows a clear sign that George Osborne has failed Birmingham.

 “Unemployment in Birmingham is up again, now at 49,000 and we still have some of the worst youth unemployment hot spots in the country, and the problem is getting worse.

 Half way through the Parliament, Britain is still being scarred by rising unemployment and it is our next generation that is paying a brutal price.

If the Chancellor needs any more evidence for why he should change course he should look no further than today’s figures which show the massive hit working families in our communities are now taking. Families in Britain have taken a £1,200 a year pay cut and that’s why we need real action to kickstart our flatlining economy and help families on middle and low income, not a tax cut for millionaires and more of the same failing policies”.

 

 

Work Scheme refunds could cost millions

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to reports in the Daily Telegraph that ‘Work Scheme refunds could cost millions’, said:

“Bungling DWP ministers have turned the Work Programme into a West Coast mainline-style fiasco. Hundreds of thousands of sanctions might now be illegal because Iain Duncan Smith messed up the regulations and now the taxpayer might be on the hook for over £100 million.

“It simply beggars belief that this Government is now so incompetent it can’t even organise a simple work experience scheme. We’ll be demanding ministers come to Parliament urgently to explain themselves.”

Ends

 

People have now taken an average £1,200 pay cut since the election because jobs are so hard to come by

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to today’s Labour Market Statistics, said: 

 “Today’s fall in the headline rate of unemployment is welcome but it is now clearer than ever that British workers are paying the price to get a job or keep a job. People have now taken an average £1,200 pay cut since the election because jobs are so hard to come by and today we see there’s still more than five people chasing every vacancy.

 “Youth unemployment has risen yet again, back towards the million mark, the number of women out of work has gone up and long-term unemployment is still far too high.

“What Britain now needs from next month’s Budget is an industrial strength back to work programme to match the crisis we face. That’s why Labour is demanding the Government introduce a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to get anyone out of work for more than two years straight into a job – one that they would be required to take.”

 

Ends

 

 

Cameron’s Government now so incompetent it can’t even organise work experience

 

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to the Appeal Court ruling on the Employment, Skills and Enterprise scheme, said:

“It beggars belief that David Cameron’s Government is now so incompetent it can’t even organise work experience. Work experience is crucial in helping many young people get ready for work.

“Two years in, David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith’s so-called welfare revolution is in a state of advanced chaos. With almost one million young people out of work, what we need now is a tough but fair compulsory jobs guarantee that ensures every young person has the chance to work and no option to sit forever on the dole.”

 

Ends

 

 

Cllr Adam Ogilvie is showing how away from Whitehall Leeds is dealing real change on the grounds for young unemployed people

In the light of youth unemployment figures in the UK, the like of which we haven’t seen since … well, the last time we had a Conservative government wreaking havoc on our country … a whole generation of young people risk their lives being blighted.

While Whitehall-devised government schemes such as the work programme are proving to be woefully inadequate, Labour councils up and down the country are shaping plans of action moulded to the particular needs of their areas. Using all the powers at their disposal, bringing public, voluntary, private sectors and trade unions together, matched with a big dose of common sense, knowing what will actually work on the ground, our Labour councils are getting their residents back to work.

So, having put youth employment as one of our top priorities here in Leeds, what are we doing about it? Council leader Keith Wakefield, on taking back control of the council, led the delegation to London demanding and securing £4.6m from government in our city deal for employment and skills for the Leeds city-region. A key thread of this is getting a coherent city offer around quality apprenticeships. Like the jobs and skills scene in general, for individuals seeking an apprenticeship or for an organisation wanting to take on an apprentice, it is currently far too fragmented and complicated. Building on the 7,000 new apprenticeship starts in the city over the last few years, our apprenticeship hub aims to tackle the fragmentation, by bringing all the different apprenticeship initiatives together – a one stop approach.

We launched our new Apprenticeship Training Agency in November, a partnership between the council and Leeds City College. This takes away all the bureaucracy and headache that small and medium sized businesses normally face so that it is much easier for them to take on apprentices.

Through our city deal we now have control over the youth contract in Leeds. Targeting 1,100 16- and 17-year-olds classed as not in education, employment or training, each young person is given a key worker for 6 -12 months acting as their guide and mentor, helping the young person on their journey back into education, training and a job. Each young person is provided with job preparation skills, mentoring, business visits and work placements. The key worker also helps with all the other things that come up in the young person’s life such as money issues, family problems and so on. Since the programme started last September 250 young people have joined with 87 of those already now re-engaged in learning, training or work.

All of this activity is on top of the work of our community learning programme, where we commission local providers, the majority from the third sector, with a focus on engaging those young adults from the most deprived neighbourhoods and individuals facing specific and often multiple barriers and disadvantage to help move them towards further training and employment. The council also runs a network of job shops across the city which last year helped 2,500 Leeds residents back to work.

So, a lot done but so much more to do.

I hope as we move towards developing our manifesto for the next general election, the party really is bold. Let’s look at the current Whitehall-determined welfare and employment programmes and see how local authorities can instead be put in the driving seat. What Liam Byrne’s Labour youth jobs taskforce is showing is that it is our Labour councils that are delivering real change on the ground.

 

Council bosses and Labour leader David Green in day of talks to reduce youth unemployment

Bradford Council’s leader joined forces with Ed Miliband yesterday to discuss tackling youth unemployment.

Councillor David Green met the Labour Party leader and senior figures of various local authorities from across the UK for the Youth Jobs Taskforce in Birmingham.

Councils in Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield were among those sharing ideas on how to combat unemployment in people aged 18 to 24 years. Also present were members of the private and voluntary sectors.

Figures provided by The Office for National Statistics last October showed that the number of people aged under 24 claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Bradford for more than six months had risen by 542 per cent since 2008.

The Bradford West parliamentary constituency has suffered particularly high rates of young jobless.
Speaking after yesterday’s meeting, Coun Green said: “The major thing we need in Bradford is we need to create new jobs and ensure there is a link between training or work experience and jobs so that people get work at the end of their training.

“We need to increase the number of jobs in Bradford district to make sure people’s skills are utilised.”
Coun Green also welcomed input and ideas from other authorities.

He said: “It has been refreshing. There was a wide-ranging group of people and a wide-ranging number of discussions.

“It was good to share information between local authorities.

“It was a very positive day, with lots of food for thought. We will be continuing to meet together to continue to learn from people’s experiences and to develop policies that will be applicable in all local areas.

“There are a number of interesting initiatives all over the country. Other authorities are doing some great work, working with the private sector to get young people into vacancies that arise in the private sector.

We have had some involvement, but not as far as others.”

Coun Green praised apprenticeship programmes and apprenticeship training agencies that are in place
throughout the country and suggested at something similar for Bradford.
He said: “There is a whole raft of different measures that are successful across the country. In Glasgow they are looking at youth unemployment amongst graduates.

“We were looking at the best ways to tackle youth unemployment issues.

“The idea is to start working on the next stage, with a view to the private and voluntary sectors, and learn from the best practices in other areas.”

 

Labour councils are helping young people into work

Labour councils are helping young people into work

By Liam Byrne

The Guardian, Thursday 31 January

Government programmes are failing young people, with almost one in five unemployed. Our youth jobs taskforce is fighting back.

As Britain’s youth jobs crisis deepens, it’s time for ministers to hand local council leaders the tools they need to make a difference.

Britain’s youth unemployment crisis remains stark. Nearly 40% of people out of work are under the age of 25. That’s one of the highest rates in the western world. In the last jobs stats, youth unemployment rose again. Nationally nearly one in five young people is out of work and this is costing us a fortune. Over a billion pounds a year in dole bills. And the cost isn’t just short term. Acevo (the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) estimates that today’s rate of youth unemployment will cost us £6.3bn per annum in lost economic output.

But now it’s clear just who is leading the fightback. All over Britain it’s local Labour councils leading the way in building bridges for young people, from school or unemployment, into real local jobs.

Last year, as youth unemployment hit the million mark, I asked the leaders of 10 councils where youth unemployment is highest to come together, to share ideas, and to show Labour nationally what works to get young people into jobs. In the past 12 months, despite horrendous budget settlements, those leaders have begun to revolutionise the way we get our young people jobs in Britain’s 21st-century economy.

Cities such as Sheffield are transforming the way they identify young people at risk of graduating to a life of unemployment, so they can target special additional support. Bradford council is building “industrial centres of excellence”: small schools of 300 students aged 14-19 offering enterprise skills, paid work experience and business-led qualifications – all tailored to what’s actually available in the local jobs market.

Manchester is widening access to apprenticeships with its “apprentice ambassadors”, and a new Ucas-style clearing house to match students with apprenticeship offers well before they leave school, conditional on making the grades.

Wales, Glasgow and Birmingham are reinventing the highly successful future jobs fund to make sure that young people out of work are given paid opportunities as a springboard into local careers. Newham has even created Workplace, a one-stop job brokerage that places 5,000 local residents into jobs each year.

Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield have created “apprenticeship agencies”, organising training and work opportunities for thousands of apprentices with their cities’ diverse business base of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Sandwell council in the West Midlands is guaranteeing three months’ work experience for every 16- to 24-year-old to ensure the borough’s young people are job ready.

Today, we publish these ideas and many more in the first report of Labour’s youth jobs taskforce, setting down just what can be done with a bit of can-do spirit.

But I can’t hide what disappointed me as I travelled round Britain listening to ideas that made a difference. The harsh reality is government programmes are failing. In fact, fewer than 6,000 young people have been helped into sustained jobs: that’s just 3.4% of young people on the Work Programme. The Youth Contract, launched with much fanfare by the deputy prime minister last year, is working so well that the government has decided to keep its results a secret.

Worse, I’ve heard loud and clear that the Department for Work and Pensions is now too often a handbrake on progress. Most council leaders I speak to have good things to say about their local jobcentre team – but Stalin-esque ministers are stopping people on the frontline getting on with what works best. “They’re good people, trying to do the right thing,” said one. “but they’re trapped in some very bad systems.” “DWP has been unwilling to engage locally,” said another. I heard the same story wherever I went.

The best thing we can give our young people is a chance. Labour councils are now showing day in and day out, that where there’s a will, there’s a way. With councils blazing ahead, and the national Work Programme in chaos, it’s time DWP ministers got behind local council leaders and took down the roadblocks to reform.

The first report of Labour’s Youth Jobs Taskforce, Our youth employment emergency: Labour fights back, can be downloaded here.