Don't let the crunch crush young hopes

24 February 2009 1 min read Howard Williamson Youth Work

I heard the other day a very striking and rather sad fact from an expert in social demography: the section of the youth population who will bear the brunt of the current recession are largely the children of the young people who suffered disproportionately from recession of the 1980s. We may sometimes bemoan the generational continuity of unemployment through apparent cultures of benefit dependency but here we have a situation where unemployment is structurally conferred. As swathes of employers shed labour, it is younger, less qualified and more expendable employees who are first to be laid off. And those who were last in, first out during the days of The Specials' Ghost Town will see their children going through the same experiences.

There have been a few conferences recently addressing the not in education, employment or training (Neet) question and, despite new strategies from sources as disparate as the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Confederation of British Industry, their prospects look increasingly bleak. Who wants to take on young people who hardly have a track record of engagement? If you are an employer continuing to recruit young people in these times of economic downturn, there are plenty of better-qualified individuals to choose from. More to the point is the fact that young people who had not expected to become Neet will now be doing so, as apprenticeships grind to a halt because some employers have a view that this is a luxury they can no longer afford.

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