‘Without tough decisions now the numbers will spiral and another generation will pay the price’, the former Labour Cabinet minister Alan Milburn writes for The Mirror
Former Labour Cabinet minister Alan Milburn promised urgent action(Image: PA)
The Chancellor said it himself this week – we will not write off a generation of young people. From the minimum wage to apprenticeships, this government is sending a clear message.
But there is more to be done. A lot more. One million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. One in eight. A generation at risk of being lost. That is a disaster – for them and for the country. And it isn’t normal. In the Netherlands it’s 4%. Here it’s 13%. Only Romania is worse.
Six in ten of them have never had a job. Thousands languish in their bedrooms. School isn’t preparing them for work. The NHS is writing them off as sick. And the welfare system spends 25 times more keeping them on benefits than helping them into work.
It’s sometimes said there are no big causes left in politics. I disagree. There is no more important cause than to increase opportunities for young people.
We always hear the case for investing in roads, energy, defence. The same logic applies to young people. A country with an ageing population cannot afford to leave young people out of work and out of hope. We need to help them into work, paying their taxes, not leave them stuck on benefits.
Look at those who have solved this. Denmark spends four times as much as we do on getting young people into work. Its NEET rate is one third lower than ours. In Germany it’s the same. They spend three times as much as us. Here, investment in employment support has fallen by two thirds in a decade.
The status quo is failing a generation. Doing nothing costs far more: lost skills, slower growth, a benefits bill we cannot afford. Above all, it costs lives.
Without tough decisions now the numbers will spiral and another generation will pay the price. Not because we didn’t see the problem, because we didn’t act.
There is no credible option of sticking with what we’ve got. Half measures will not do. Young people have told me again and again that they want a chance, an opportunity. They want to work.
This is a moment of choice for the country. It’s time to back the next generation.
‘Whole country benefits from good start for young people’
Britain hasn’t always been so unwilling to back its young people.
In the 1980s, the Youth Training Scheme helped thousands into work. In the late 1990s, the New Deal did the same. We spent far more on both than we do now.
Today’s Youth Guarantee is a welcome step. But it’s only 15% of the investment we put into the scheme in the 80s and less than half of the 90s New Deal.
Over the last decade, there have been years when all we offered was case management through Jobcentres and a handful of small programmes.
When young people get a good start, the whole country benefits. Stronger public services, a stronger economy and stronger communities.
Ultimately, we have a choice to make here. It’s high time we backed the next generation.
‘Public sector more take on more young people’
If we’re asking businesses to take on more young people, the public sector must do the same.
That’s the idea behind First Chance, my call for employers to give young people a first step into work. Businesses are signing up, including M&S and John Lewis.
The NHS and local government are Britain’s biggest employers. Young people make up 11% of the workforce, yet fewer than 5% of local government staff are under 25.
The public sector must lead the way – opening its doors too.
‘Backing next generation the government’s defining mission’
Backing the next generation should be this government’s defining mission.
Every policy, from investing in energy to apprenticeship funding, should answer one thing – ‘what is this doing to get more young people into work’?
That’s why I’m recommending a new Youth Test – build it into the government’s day-to-day – so every policy will support more jobs for the young.
