Learning the hard way
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The Independent's leader [10] on the plight facing newly qualified graduates might well have been addressed to the wider audience of school leavers, and
the young unemployed in general, for their plight is worse than that of any other age group.
[4] [6]
What's on offer from a notionally social democratic government - trapped in the neoliberal economy it inherited from Thatcherism, and which it embraced with
enthusiasm - looks distinctly underwhelming.
It looks like menial jobs in the public sector, and/or "work-related" training, under the auspices of the Future Jobs Fund.
[7]
A spokesman for the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) said that the scheme would be in place by early 2010, and that the young unemployed would be offered one of four options. These will include support to move into key employment sectors such as working as a carer, work-focused training, or meaningful work-related activity such as working on a community project. [Tel]
The problem facing school leavers is not new - [1]
[2] - but it's got worse with the recession.
[6]
The long-term answer involves the much-talked of notion of "rebalancing" the economy, and it's intriguing to note that the only person to voice the need for an
industrial policy - a former no-go area under neoliberal 'free' market theory - was Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI!
[3]
Nothing less will do!
Unemployment is only stabilising in Chris Grayling's mind
Here's what is actually happening. In the three months to October, the number of employees in the UK fell by a thumping 252,000.
The total number of people employed fell by a much smaller 63,000, but only because there was an increase of 166,000 in self-employment ...
The shake-out of jobs has been concentrated in the public sector ... there is no evidence that the private sector is robust enough to take up the slack.
In the latest three months, public sector employment was down by 67,000, private sector employment up by 5,000 ...
There are two reasons to expect unemployment to continue rising.
The first is that the squeeze on real incomes shows little sign of abating ...
The second reason is that events in Europe will from now on start to have an impact on the jobless total – both directly through Britain's close trade links and indirectly as a result of much tougher credit conditions for the UK financial sector ...
Gdn 14 Dec 2011UK unemployment increases to 2.64m
UK unemployment rose by 128,000 in the three months to October to 2.64 million, the highest level since 1994.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the jobless rate was 8.3%, up from 7.9% in the previous quarter.
Youth unemployment rose to 1.027 million, the highest since records began in 1992, beating the previous record set only last month.
The number of people out of work and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 3,000 to 1.6 million in November.
BBC NEWS 14 Dec 2011 ONS Stats Reserve Army Whither Britain? LogYoung & Jobless
Teenagers to be given jobs funded by the taxpayer
"Do less, make it seem like more"
The payment — effectively a taxpayer-funded bribe for companies — is designed to get more than 400,000 young people into work.
The scheme, which has hallmarks of the Thatcherite Youth Training Scheme of the 1980s, will be funded by freezing tax credits for up to three years, hitting millions of workers earning up to £28,000 ...
Tel 25 Nov 2011Nick Clegg announces £1bn fund to tackle youth unemployment
The opposition said the move represented a U-turn and was in effect a revised version of Labour's future jobs fund, cancelled by the coalition government when it came to office.
After protracted negotiations inside the government, ministers will subsidise 160,000 work places by providing £2,275 to any private-sector business willing to hire an unemployed 18- to 24-year-old.
The scheme will be administered by private-sector providers via the government's work programme, and any young person taken on will have to complete the placement or be refused benefits.
Anyone rejecting a subsidised job offer will be required to undertake four weeks' mandatory work activity ...robletGdn 25 Nov 2011 Coalition Log Full employment? Outsourcing
25 November 2011 1:43AM
"May lead to permanent jobs."
More likely it tends to lead to a revolving door policy by companies who can obtain a constant stream of subsidised labour.
As with all compulsory schemes for the unemployed, this then becomes an incentive for unscrupulous companies to jettison their regular employees in menial work, in favour of cheap labour from the massed ranks of the enforcees.
The employers will be happy anyway.
The myth of full employmentYoung jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits
Coalition sheds crocodile tears over young jobless
Neets number of young people climbs to record 1.16m
The number of young people not in education, employment or training has risen to a record high of 1.16m, official figures show.
Almost one in five 16- to 24-year-olds in England were "Neet" between July and September this year, according to statistics published by the Department for Education.
The figure has risen by 137,000 compared with the same period last year.
The figures also show that just over 21% of 18- to 24-year-olds are not in education, work or training ...
Gdn 24 Nov 2011 Reserve Army Whither Britain? Log
Marginalised by Standortkonkurrenz
Young jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits
Presumably, firms like Poundland will sack their full-time workers, and rely on the new slavery to keep the firm going for free.
Young people have told the Guardian that they are doing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour and have to be available from 9am to 10pm.
There is even the probability that they could get their old workers back. (*)
In three such cases jobseekers also claim they were not told about the week's cooling-off period, and that once they showed a willingness to take part in the scheme they were told by their case manager they would be stripped of their £53- a-week jobseekers allowance if they backed out.
The Guardian has also learned that lawyers are mounting a legal challenge to a separate work experience scheme known as mandatory work activity, which they argue represents a form of slavery under the Human Rights Act ...
Under the scheme, there is no guarantee of a job, only an interview.
Multiple jobseekers can work in one store at the same time, cleaning or stacking shelves and competing against each other for a potential offer of paid work ...
Gdn Dave's Big Society Con The Work Programme Whither Britain? LogPermanent underclass is emerging in UK
(*) Welfare: the 18th Brumaire of Iain Duncan Smith
Jobs crisis threatens global wave of social unrest, warns ILO
... the organisation's World of Work report ... found that only half the 80m jobs needed to return employment to its pre-crisis levels were likely to be created over the next two years, and that the stalling of the global recovery was already leading to an increase in joblessness ...
In a new "social unrest" index, the ILO said there was growing unhappiness over the lack of jobs and anger over perceptions that the burden of the crisis is not being shared fairly.
It noted that in over 45 of the 118 countries examined, the risk of social unrest is rising, with particular signs of tension in the EU, the Arab region and to a lesser extent Asia.
Official figures released today showed that unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone had climbed to a 15-year-high of 10.2%.
Young people are being hardest hit by the lack of jobs, with youth unemployment at 29% in Italy, 43% in Greece and 48% in Spain ...
Gdn 31 Oct 2011 Global Risks 2011 Is capitalism the only game in town? Youth UnemploymentUnemployment and employment statistics
'Bad luck' generation will be blighted by youth unemployment for several years
For 'several' read 'many'
The ILO predicts the number of unemployed 15-24-year-olds will stand at 74.6 million, or a rate of 12.6% for 2011.
That is down slightly from 12.7%, or 75.1 million, in 2010 but the report attributes this more to young people opting out of the labour market, rather than looking for jobs.
It said that pattern was especially true in developed economies and the European Union and unlikely to improve soon.
"A lot of these young people are simply giving up and they are saying 'enough is enough. What is the point of looking if there's nothing out there?'" said Sara Elder, ILO economist and the report's author ...
The report warns that consequences around the world could be dire.
"Increased crime rates in some countries, increased drug use, moving back home with the parents, depression – all of these are common consequences for a generation of youth that, at best, has become disheartened about the future, and, at worst, has become angry and violent," it says ...
Gdn 19 Oct 2011 Full Employment? Global Risks 2011 IMF Is Capitalism the only game in town?
'Reserve Army' Third Meltdown Log What is to be done? Log
The Myth of Full Employment
Government to launch work academies
"Do less, make it seem like more"
Employment Minister Chris Grayling said that coupled with the Work Programme and the Work Experience scheme, the new work academies will support up to 150,000 young people over the next few months and 250,000 over the next two years.
Industries covered by the work academies include construction, hospitality, logistics, retail and contact centres, where the Government said there were tens of thousands of job vacancies.
Mr Grayling said: "Sector-based work academies are the next key part of our strategy to tackle youth unemployment.
With training, work experience and a guaranteed interview, they will put people at the front of the queue for vacancies that employers are looking to fill."
Under the initiative, employers are being urged to offer work experience placements or guaranteed job interviews.
Ind 12 Oct 2011UK unemployment hits highest level for 17 years
Unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million ...
The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work increased by 74,000 over the latest quarter to 991,000 ...
... the number of people classed as economically inactive increased by 26,000 to 9.35 million ...
Ind 12 Oct 2011 A free market train wreck Full Employment? ONS Stats 'Reserve Army'
The Myth of Full Employment The Work ProgrammeReality check: is this generation bust?
Youth unemployment: The angry millions
Statisticians like Mr [Simon] Briscoe prefer to look at the bigger picture – but there is even less room for optimism there.
"Whether the unemployed number hits one million or not is irrelevant really from a statistician's point of view," he says.
"It's simply a number on a given day. What's important is the overall trend which has shown youth unemployment steadily rising over the past six or seven years.
"That's the really scary statistic. It's time we had some clear thinking and some good policy decision to tackle this overall rise." ...
David Cameron has insisted the summer riots had nothing to do with poverty.
But numerous statistical analyses of the rioters have shown deprivation and a lack of hope played a key role.
According to one analysis, 41 per cent of suspects lived in areas in the bottom 10 per cent of England in terms of deprivation ...
... the Recruitment and Employment Confederation ... has lobbied for small and medium business to be given a two-year National Insurance tax breaks if they hire an under 24-year-old ...
Doing nothing is not an option. You only have to look at Tottenham, Hackney, Croydon and Manchester to see the alternative ...
Ind 11 Oct 2011This is a class war disguised as a generation war
It's easy to perceive all this as an attack on the young.
In fact, it is attack on the disadvantaged, on those without safety nets or resources, on those who are most easily exploited by the labour market – many of whom happen to be young, but many more of whom are women, casual workers or people on lower incomes.
There is now very little room in society for those who are not already independently wealthy.
This is not a generational war. It is class war ...
Ind 11 Oct 2011 A free market train wreck Full Employment? Reserve Army Whither Britain? LogBig Bang's shockwaves left us with today's big bust
Unicef criticises Britain for jailing children over riots
Young People
Youth joblessness highest since Tories last in power
More than a million young people are now unemployed, the highest number since the Conservatives were last in power, government figures to be published this week are expected to reveal.
The figures have been swollen by the number of graduates and school-leavers who have failed to find work after joining the jobs market this summer.
Unemployment rose by 80,000 to reach 2.51 million in the three months to July, 77,000 of whom were 18- to-24-year-olds, lifting the youth joblessness total to 973,000 ...
Gdn 08 Oct 2011 A 'modern and compassionate party' Coalition Log Full employment?Graduate Fog
Minimum wage harming job opportunities for young
Firms may be reluctant to create jobs by recruiting inexperienced staff because they are put off by the increased wage bill, the Low Pay Commission has suggested ...
New rates for the minimum wage took effect on Saturday. For 18-20 year olds, the minimum wage is now £4.98, up from £4.92.
For 16-17 year olds, the new rate is £3.68, up from £3.64.
Tim Butcher, the commission’s chief economist told the Daily Telegraph that the body is launching a new investigation into the role the minimum wage has played in Britain’s growing youth unemployment problem ...
Tel 02 Oct 2011 A 'modern and compassionate party' Coalition Log
Falling Living Standards Inequality Third MeltdownLow Pay Britain
Sharp rise in demand for food handouts
Youth unemployment surge triggers worst jobless rise in two years
Unemployment rose by 80,000 to reach 2.51m in the three months to July, according to the Office for National Statistics.
But 77,000 of the newly unemployed were 18 to 24 year-olds - an 11pc rise compared to the previous quarter, the figures showed.
Worryingly, the number of young people out of work for more than a year rose by 35,000 on the quarter to reach 219,000, while the total number of youths out of work for two years or more surged by 12pc on the quarter to 93,000.
The total number of 16 to 24 year-olds without a job rose to 972,000 in the three months to July ...
... the number of vacancies fell by 8,000 over the quarter to reach 452,000.
Some 162,000 people were made redundant in the three months to July, a 40pc increase on the quarter, taking the redundancy rate to 6.5pc.
The number of employed people fell between May and July by 69,000 to 29.17m, driven by public sector job cuts, which was the biggest fall since the quarter to March 2010.
The number employed in the public sector fell by 111,000 between March and June to reach 6.04m, the largest fall since records began in 1999 ...
Tel 14 Sept 2011 A free market train wreck Falling Living Standards 'Reserve Army' Whither Britain?
The dead end of globalisation looms before our youth
For years now, the mantra of "economic growth" justified government interventions on behalf of big business and investors with generous tax breaks (and, in the west, the rescue of criminally reckless investors and speculators with massive bailouts at the taxpayer's expense).
The fact that a few people get very rich while a majority remains poor seemed of little importance as long as the GDP figures looked impressive ...
Returning to an austere age of wisely managed expectations is no longer possible – even if it was desirable.
It remains to be seen what political forms this summer's unrest will take.
But there is no doubt that many more people across a wide swath of the world will awaken with rage to what [Chinese philosopher Zhang Junmai] warned against:
"A condition of prosperity without equality, wealth without peace."
Gdn 25 Aug 2011Carsun Chang
Rise in young people claiming JSA
Almost a third of all people claiming jobseeker’s allowance are aged between 18 and 24 ...
Claimants in the age group jumped by almost 40,000 to more than 408,000 between November and February, a study of official data by Barnardo’s showed.
The charity said the figures, covering England, Scotland and Wales, revealed a “ticking time bomb’’ of a “lost generation’’ of young people ...
Tel 26 Aug 2011
Overseas workers preferred to unskilled school leavers in job market
This report touches on one of the deepest problems facing education for life with neoliberal free markets: the 'product' is expected to be both docile consumer and skilled worker.
School leavers are being pushed to the back of the jobs queue as Britain's employers increasingly turn to migrant labour to fill vacancies ...
The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development ... said companies wanted action from the government to improve the work prospects of UK school leavers.
When asked, respondents identified literacy (53%) and numeracy (42%), as well as good customer service skills (40%) and good communication skills (40%) ...
Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser, CIPD, said ...
" ... The government therefore needs to redouble efforts to ensure the education and skills system is fit for purpose to ensure young people can find a foothold in an increasingly competitive jobs market." ...
Gdn 23 Aug 2011 Education Log Global Labour Market
A 'tide of vulgarity' 'Pawns or Players'?
England rioters: young, poor and unemployed
A Liverpool University urban planning lecturer, Alex Singleton, analysed the Guardian's preliminary data by overlaying the addresses of defendants with the poverty indicators mapped by England's Indices of Multiple Deprivation, which breaks the country into small geographical areas.
He found that the majority of people who have appeared in court live in poor neighbourhoods, with 41% of suspects living in one of the top 10% of most deprived places in the country.
The data also shows that 66% of neighbourhoods where the accused live got poorer between 2007 and 2010 ...
Gdn 18 Aug 2011 Inequality RiotsEngland's rioters: did many 'pillars of the community' take part?
Crisis deepens for UK's young
Record numbers of A-level candidates are expected to end up without a university place today – as the latest unemployment numbers underline the bleak prospects of them finding a job.
More than one in five of Britain's young people (those aged 16 to 24) are out of work and almost 100,000 of them have been on the dole for two years or more.
The youth unemployment rate rose to 20.2 per cent this spring, according to the Office for National Statistics – one of the highest in the European Union ...
The youth unemployment situation will be compounded by the number of teenagers who will not get into university this year.
The number applying has reached an all-time high of 669,956 as candidates try to beat the rise in fees of up to £9,000 a year, coming in September 2012.
Today's A-level results will likely see about 250,000 people chasing just over 40,000 places in clearing, meaning a record 210,000 will miss out. Many of them will face a dilemma over whether to hunt for scarce jobs, volunteer as unpaid interns, take gap years or seek university places overseas.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, described the Government's fees policy as "a clumsy disaster".
The increase in youth unemployment is especially worrying because of the strong evidence that if young people can't establish themselves in the world of work early in their careers they will find it much more difficult later on – the "lost-generation" phenomenon ...
Ind 18 Aug 2011 Coalition Log Full Employment Riots Whither Britain
Part-time Britain hits record high as unemployment soars
The statistics also point to further misery for Britain's young people: youth unemployment rose by 15,000 over the quarter to reach 949,000, or 20.2pc of 16-24 year olds.
The "worrying" figures come on the eve of thousands of young people receiving their A-level results and entering the jobs market for the first time.
Tel 17 Aug 2011 Coalition Log Full Employment? Riots
Leaders launch plan to tackle youth jobless 'scandal'
" ... a £60m package to boost work prospects and vocational education ... "
Mr Cameron said: "It's time to reverse the trend of rising youth unemployment that has held back our country for far too long and help our young people get the jobs on which their future - and ours - depends ...
BBC NEWS 12 May 2011 Coalition Log Dystopia Log
'Reserve Army' The Third Face of Power The Myth of Full Employment Youth UnemploymentRise in youths out of work and education
Youth unemployment hits record high
'Savage' cuts to youth spending ...
Young unemployed 'face mental problems'
Coalition is abandoning young people to joblessness
Cost of youth crime rises to £1.2bn a year
Youth unemployment for two years or more soars by 42pc
Job losses hit the under-25s