| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
Statistics are confusing. The unemployment figures out yesterday showed that the youth unemployment rate now stands at 18.4%, the highest figure since records began in 1992. But the TUIC have shown that youth unemployment was higher during the 1980s recession, before the current records began. (more…)
The CBI have called on the government to spend £125m on providing 50,000 new youth apprenticeships. Under the plans each participating employer would receive £2,500 for every apprentice it took on. The government has allocated £500m to a recruitment subsidy fund, the CBI sees the cost of the apprenticeship scheme as coming from this fund. (more…)
BT’s announcement that it is to discontinue its graduate training scheme is the latest blow to what is becoming known as the ‘lost generation’. The number of young people (18-24 year olds) not in work or education is now 835,000, one hundred thousand more than even a year ago.
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The tragedy of one in six young people being unemployed is compounded by the inadequate official response. The knee jerk reaction from all agencies involved is to offer them some sort of training, in the hope that this will qualify them for whatever job they stumble across in the future. There is rarely any discussion about what training, and in any event the skills they will learn through conventional training are far less important than the skills they will fail to pick up by not being in work.
The new government funded gap years for graduates are to be welcomed, even if not for the reasons that are being cited in the publicity material. The ad for candidates asks if they feel that everything is “doom and gloom” and suggests that one way of beating the recession will be to volunteer on an overseas scheme, partially funded by a government bursary. (more…)
Today’s budget is expected to be a ‘budget for jobs’. Amongst the measures likely to be announced are a job creation scheme for youth, support for the car industry through a scrappage scheme and grants for employers in certain sectors, particularly social care, hospitality and local authorities, to employ eligible job seekers. All welcome stuff, but is it enough? (more…)