Higher Unemployment

Very depressing statistics out today show the unemployment figures have increased again with the Government blaming the poor results on the Eurozone problems. What rubbish!

The current situation is due to what was happening in the economy 6 to 12 months ago not as a result of what is happening now. The awful thing is that with other current economic indicators also showing sluggish, if not zero, growth then the unemployment figures are set to get a lot worse in 6 months time when the Eurozone effect does actually start to influence them.

The Government has to take action to help the million plus young people get some kind of employment and they need to do it now. This mess will not go away for quite a while, probably years, and it is totally unacceptable for youngsters to be dumped on the scrap heap for that length of time.

What can be done? Well, here's a few ideas;

1) Give employers PAYE credits for employing school/college/university leavers.
2) Remove employers NIC contributions on new employees under 21's
3) Give employers grants to take on apprentices.
4) Allow the unemployed to take up short term unpaid secondment to businesses where they are still paid Job Seekers Allowance but don't need to sign on during the secondment. This will allow them to get the experience required to get a proper paid position.

Listening to young people talk about the difficulty getting a job the most common problem is that they don't have the experience required. This is a growing issue and needs some "out of the box" thinking to permanently resolve. Perhaps all education leavers should go on secondment for 'x' months after finishing education. A permanent system, jointly funded by employers and the government, should be set up to provide a route to experience where every employer over a certain size must offer young persons secondment positions.